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In this episode, Max discusses his blog, also titled A River Between Zen and Chaos, and shares his perspective on poetry. He talks about his British grandfather, Sidney (Sid) Robinson, who was also a writer. Max reads The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh, which seems like a poem his grandfather would have liked. His grandfather, who never had a formal education, also loved the poetry of William Wordsworth. Max tells about learning about his grandfather's passion for writing at his memorial service and their last moments together.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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In this episode, Max explores how growing up with a stutter until he was 15 years old. He got speech therapy and how working in theater helped him develop his voice, especially doing Shakespeare especially Richard III and Hamlet.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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Max discusses a past job with the printing company and an incident that led to him writing the poem Dear Legal Department after a co-worker has a head injury at work and is told to call management instead of 911. Let us know if you have ever experienced corporate insanity where procedure takes precedence over safety and common sense.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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Max talks about growing up and life in Miami before he moved to Atlanta. At a young age, Harry Cruz's Southern Gothic style influenced Max's early writing. He talks about going to a convenience store and talking to a young man, whom he found out later committed murder. He also talks about working for a man who had stockpiled guns with supplies for when the "state of anarchy" breaks out, he'll be ready. He left the job after about six weeks. The poem All I'm Saying was written a few years after leaving the craziness of Miami and looks at the mindset of the men he met.

Another poem inspired by the upside-down world of cocaine filled Miami in the 1970s and 80s, a strange dream with devilish women, rats, and the 23rd Psalm. The poem Rats in the Wall, talks about ending a relationship with the potent white powder.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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Max talks about his first crush, Kaddy, in junior high, and his connection to Edgar Allen Poe, as well as how Poe's work comforted him through some tough times in his youth, including the loss of his grandmother. He explores Poe's lesser-known works including:

• Dreams
• Spirits of the Dead
• A Dream
• A Sonnet To Science
• (Alone)
• The Bells

He thanks Mrs. Davis from John F. Kennedy Junior High for introducing him to the works of one of the greatest poets in American history, which developed his passion for reading and writing poetry.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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In this episode, Max talks about his first play in college, Private Wars by James McClure and watching an episode of Stephen Colbert with Anthony Hopkins and they were reading portions of the touching poem by T.S. Eliot entitled The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock which he wrote in 1915 when Eliot was 22 years old. He reads the entire poem in this episode.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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In this episode, Max examines The Proust Questionnaire, a list of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust, which is often used by modern interviewers. Max mentions that he and Kelley used this with actors as part of the actors' training to put together a strong intentional character. It relates to the game called Hot Seat, in which an actor gets on stage and must answer questions in character. Max takes the questionnaire and has some surprising answers.

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!

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Join us as we look at three very different holiday tales, including the editorial. Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, the O. Henry short story, The Gift of the Magi, and the Christmas poem, Twas the Night Before Christmas. Kelley discusses the importance of each of these works and how the rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas was recorded in 2000 as part of a pre-school project that her daughter was asked to do with family members. It's also the night before Kelley and Max's daughter Danielle was born, and highlights the importance of getting those holiday stories from family so that they can be passed down for generations to come. Our voice talent includes:

For Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus:

• Carlos Tovar as Narrator 1
• Blerta Xhelili as Narrator 2
• Estella Love Rice as Narrator 3
• Kelley Cody-Grimm as Virginia

For The Gift of the Magi, your narrator was Max Grimm.

For Twas the Night Before Christmas and Other Holiday Memories

• Jayne Cody
• Frank Cody
• Max Grimm
• Kelley Cody-Grimm
• Little Amber Grimm

For more on the Spectral Summit and Literary Summit - go to our website:

www.spectral-summit.com. Have a wonderful holiday season!

For more on Creative Actors Lab, check our website, www.creativeactorslab.com. You can always find us at our Instagram page, @creative_actors_lab, Facebook page, @CreativeActorsLab, Linked-In - Creative Actors Lab, and YouTube Channel - @CreativeActorsLab . If you would like to support our work - this is our Patreon Page. Thanks so much for listening!