Started juggling 1975
I'd like to ask my juggling colleagues to join me in helping to save the World, my latest "passion project."
Well actually the Planet is going to be fine, but what is at risk is human life and the lives of other flora and fauna, and this is because we started burning fossil fuels about 200 years ago. It is time to stop the burning and shift to renewable energy. We jugglers can be helpful in this mission. My own work is reflected in the "Green Actioneers Family Action Guide" is a 266 page book that will be distributed to families through Family Night in elementary and k-8 schools. Our goal is to get the students, teachers and parents involved in reducing their carbon and water footprints by going through the book and choosing actions that their family can take.
Want a copy of the book, just get in touch with me at davefinnigan@greenactioneers.com. By the time you read this we'll probably have our website up and operational at www.greenactioneers.com.
As far as my juggling history is concerned, I learned to juggle in 1975 while in a doctoral program at the University of Washington, where I was bringing to a close a previous 10 year career working in Family Planning programs in East Asia, where I helped countries like South Korea bring average family size down from 6 kids to less than 2 in a generation. After learning to juggle, I immediately dropped the PhD and started becoming a full time professional juggler and juggling teacher, starting a 30 year psychological break from worrying about the Planet.
I wrote The Joy of Juggling, The Complete Juggler, Juggling from Start to Star, the Zen of Juggling. Wrote and recorded 38 instructional juggling songs. Created 2 two-hour video series - Juggletime (using the songs) and Juggling Step by Step. Won a Parents Choice Award and 11 other national awards for the Juggletime video series.
I started the Jugglebug juggling company and helped bring a low cost beginner line of props to jugglers for 30 years. The company that bought Jugglebug didn't understand the market and ran it out of business.
I started Juggling for Success school program and visited over 2,000 schools in 41 states and 12 countries where I've taught over 1,000,000 kids, teachers and parents to juggle starting with slow moving nylon scarves.
Thanks in great part to juggling I'm a fit and active octogenarian and expect to continue working on my new "passion project" until I'm at least in my 90's, when I may consider retiring.