Alabama was about the LAST place I could think about spending any time, until I heard about the bearded man you see in these two pictures: Samuel Mockbee.
I met Mockbee thru an article in some magazine I picked up while flying somehwere to teach a martial arts business and training seminar.The piece briefly described Mockbee's RURAL STUDIO architectural program at Auburn University --and it showed a "pod" --or living structure --a few of his students had built out of compressed waxed cardboard bales.
I liked the structure because I fancy the idea of "living IN art" and with art --the little dwelling had this organic, artistic look to it that spoke both to my aesthetic sense of "cool" and to my desire to live and consume with simplicity in mind.I tore out the page and saved it, as it seemed to me like something worth looking into, in the future.
Fast forward a couple of months and the scene repeated itself; I was on another flight and picked up another magazine, but in this one Mockbee talked about sustainability, social consciousness, and how (in so many words) he sought to transcend his subject matter, and make his work about the world.
I thought to myself, "This is what I want to do in my career. I'm a teacher --and I want to open minds, to inspire, and to (in so many words) make a difference in the world."
Mockbee wasn't JUST teaching students about architecture, he was teaching them about life --and about connection, responsibility, and compassion.
I got inspired enough that when I returned to my office the following Monday, I picked up the phone and started trying to reach Samuel Mockbee. I was having a fantasy that I was going to quit my job (or take a long hiatus) and go work with Mockbee and these architectural students. I imagined that I would create and run projects that would help fund some of these "houses for the poor" --and well, something in me said "seek this guy out."
I don't know WHAT I was thinking!?
A couple of hours later, after 10 calls and 10 messages, I quit work for the day --and later that night my wife and I went to Borders Books...where I picked up a copy of Architectural Digest --and son-of-a-gun if I didn't flip open the magazine right to a page on Samuel Mockbee.
It was his obituary. He had died of cancer a few months earlier.
It was like a kick in the gut! I really felt a loss. It was like I had lost a friend or a teacher, even though we'd never met.
A few months later I still hadn't gotten Mockbee or the Rural Studio off of my mind --and I was in the midst of designing, printing, and marketing collectible posters for various projects (I had done one with Bruce Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, another for the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, one with Erika Jong, and a chapbook with writer Ray Bradbury), and so I phoned the Rural Studio to offer them my services.
My contact there became Pam Dorr.
Pam was a clothing designer from the Bay Area who left her career and volunteered to work with the Rural Studio --mostly because she too had been touched by Mockbee and his vision.At first I don't think she knew what to do with me, but after I bugged her for several months, she let me loan some specialized audio equipment to one of the students at the Rural Studio, for a book project.
I never saw that equipment in working-order again, but a nice postcard/book came out of it --and I did get several copies!
A couple of years later I called Pam with yet another crazy "Callos idea"; this time I wanted to bring all of the black belts in my new program "The Ultimate Black Belt Test" to Alabama, to the Rural Studio, to "do whatever they need us to do." I thought it would be a great idea to expose all these martial arts leaders to Mockbee and the Rural Studio's vision --and I was hoping they would find inspiration, like I did, in the work. I told Pam that we'd do any grunt work she --or they --needed, and that we'd sleep on the floor, pay our own way, and work like dogs just to hang out there.
I don't know WHAT I was thinking!??
This offer became the $20,000 House Project (described here in my blog).
What's come out of all of this --is that I have met Mockbee through seeing his work first hand, working with some of his students side-by-side, and by witnessing how one person can so directly influence the work of so many others. And if the truth be told: I want to be the Samuel Mockbee of the martial arts world.
I've also met and had the privilege to work withPam Dorr, who I believe is carrying on the social/spiritual work of Mockbee (and in a way I think he would approve of). Pam is BIG --she's multi-talented, she's organized, she has this amazing composure and spirit --and while she's already a star to many who know her, I have a feeling she's destined for even greater things. I could volunteer (and I do) for Pam, any day for any reason, just like I would have done for Samuel Mockbee.
So I bring all of my students and peers to Alabama, to Greensboro, to meet Samuel Mockbee; to meet Pam Dorr; to see the work they've done --and continue to do.
I bring them to Alabama to meet the people there, as they are something special.
We go to see the simplicity, we go to witness the disparity between our world and theirs (both for better and for worse).
We don't meet to train, learn, and develop friendships at some Hilton Hotel at the beach --we go get dirty.
We help people in need.
We sleep on the floor in some building donated to us for the purpose. We shower (and not too often) at the local High School.
We eat what we're served.
We go to Alabama to meet each other, to meet leaders and teachers.
We go to give of ourselves --and in doing that we get an education one can't get just "anywhere."
Mockbee was here for a reason. Pam Dorr continues the work for a reason.
We go to Alabama for a lot of reasons.
After each of our trips there, I come back and think, "Now, THAT was some good thinking!"
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