The Pipe Cleaner Pony - A Training Class Ice-Breaker

The wind was rushing across my face almost lifting the cowboy hat up off my head as as I guided my loyal steed up the mountain pass. The mission: to head off a group of cattle rustlers that had hit both my ranch and the neighbors' across the way. Enough was enough, and it was time to take the law into our own hands. With my posse in tow, an inner calm and confidence started to arise knowing justice will come to these prairie hardened, dusty remnants of law abiding men who once made an honest living as I currently fight for, each and every single day of my life. With the guiding touch of my spur, my pipe cleaner pony responded with a snort, a bray and a quickening of his pace so we could catch up with the bad guys as soon as possible. All of a sudden, the teacher's words instructing the late-comers of the task at hand brought my morning daydream to a faded end. 

Placed at each group of desks were a pile of index cards and a random assortment of arts and crafts items to be used to construct our little morning assignment. We had to create name cards that were free standing and had to tell everyone in the class something about ourselves. A few clever ones emerged quickly as I scanned around the room, but then a growing sense of frustration emerged and many couldn't quite get a firm grasp on what to create and how to do it in the shortest amount of time possible. A chorus of eyes rolled as many just didn't care at all about being cutesy or clever and just wanted to get on with it all. 

Just in case that first photo doesn't really showcase the meticulous artistry displayed in this pile of pipe cleaners, here's another shot for those skeptics in the crowd:

Boom!  Sheer brilliance on half a cup of coffee on a Wednesday morning in downtown San Francisco on the 12th floor in a homogeneous beige colored class room. Not to sound too cocky, but I'm sure Alexander Calder wished he had constructed such a beast at the height of his wire circus period, before he had that little "mobile" phase.  I didn't name the poor beast 'cause I just didn't think he'd be around long enough to really bond with. Such a fleeting moment of art imitating life.   

After we completed our little "sculptures", we were then asked to stand up, and hand it to someone else in the room and wait for them to guess the personal quality the card was supposed to illustrate. Needless to say this broke the supposed "ice" in the room, and made for many awkward exchanges as most people couldn't guess what each others card was supposed to day about them. A few guessed mined correctly, but I certainly got a few strange looks in the process, like "that's supposed to be a horse??". Thank god I'll never see these people again.... I hope.