The Alchemist’s Code
The Code is a collection of guidelines that we follow to keep our work safe, sustainable, and playful.
A Yes Is As Good As A No
Information is value neutral, with no answer to a question being better than another. If our experiment works, huzzah! You have a new way of doing things. If it doesn’t work, also huzzah! You have determined a thing that doesn’t work and can now make another, more informed choice.
Javelin learnt this one in a rehearsal hall from a wise director named Kathryn Smith (they/them).
Experimental
The things we are doing are new! Untested! Cutting edge! That means we don’t always know what the outcome will be. Given all that, does it make any sense at all to put pressure on yourself to do things the ‘right’ way? Who says what the right way is?! We are in undiscovered territory! We are making history!
FOR SCIENCE!!
Experimentation means we are taking risks and trying new things, so we prioritize safety (emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually). That means we approach our work with care, we tread lightly around trauma and hurt, we avoid doing things that cause harm, and we trust in the power of informed consent for the subject of our research (ps that’s you!).
You might recognize this as something everyone’s favourite Science Guy used to say on his videos in elementary school science classrooms.
Safety Goggles On
We are not in a clean and sanitized lab, we are out in the field with the dirt and the inclement weather. We are in the thick of it, getting messy, learning constantly, and making world altering discoveries everyday. As such, it is important to remember that we are not in control of all the variables surrounding our work.
This Is Field Work
Try Easier
We take the pressure off of ourselves whenever we can, recognizing that we are often doing our alchemy in unforgiving and even hostile environments. We don’t need to add to that by being hard on ourselves.
These wise words were shared with Javelin in their first year of acting school by a professor named Dawn McCaughrty. It absolutely changed their life.
We give ourselves permission to set our alchemy work aside in order to rest. When we return to our Base Camp, we can take a break from the science, and switch modes into play. Like that guy who discovered buoyancy in the bath tub (Archimedes), we know this is an important part of discovery too.
This one was Javelin trying to find a clever sciency way to tell you to take a freaking break sometimes.