Walkin' with Joaquin

FOJMP welcomed 120 kids from Head Royce to the Park for Earth Day where they could learn about plants, pull some weeds, and hear my song! I performed it 5 times, turning skeptical faces into big smiles each time. I'd ask for a volunteer to play the guitar and select my tall brother Felix Baum from the audience. I'd confess that he was a plant (ha ha) and teach the German word for tree. Then I'd secretly teach a few Joaquin Miller facts as I dressed up "Mr. Tree." When he had the hat and bearskin vest on I'd ask if anyone had ever seen a picture of Miller and if he looked right. One person, each time, would know that he had a beard and voilá! I would produce the paper poetry beard!  After each performance to a group of 30, the kids would come and try on the beard and hat, or play the guitar, or sing their own songs to me! One kid even introduced himself as the real Joaquin. (Eyeballs are part of the disguise...) After each performance to a group of 30, the kids...