Outside Reading: Juggle Magazine Fall 2008

Today I chose to read a more fun article. I chose to read "What's Good For Juggling?" by Jason Garfield in the "Juggle" magazine. In the Juggling world Jason Garfield is quite famous.... along with infamous: Some of his edgy comedy acts and juggling have caused some audience members to be offended. Anyways, Jason wrote about the narrow mindedness of many jugglers in relation to juggling being a sport or a performing art. This particular topic is a "hot topic" in the juggling world, but Jason approaches it a little differently; he speaks of this in a way that relates specifically to him. Jason founded the "WJF" (World Juggling Federation) which focuses mainly on the sport aspect of juggling. Using his dry and sarcastic sense of humor Jason talks about why he created it, and that reason is simple; himself. Jason says "I grew up, like many other jugglers, being constantly subjected to clown and circus references when I practiced and wished something existed in juggling that people weren't aware of that gave it the respect I wanted." Jason also calls himself open-minded, and even acknowledges that it would be hard to see that in him. I found it interesting that Jason wrote in the IJA (International Jugglers Association) magazine after he has basically weaned himself out of it, and into the WJF. Everybody knows Jason has a "cocky" character, but I don't think anyone expected for him to write in this magazine.

For more info on Juggle Magazine, visit their website here

Images from http://www.jasongarfield.com/