As in each of the past three summers, I carefully set aside six days for the priceless, but increasingly costly, IJA convention. The cost increase is only partly in dollars. Largely it is the price we pay in common sense. For myself, the mental and physical preparation for the rapidly approaching competitions made it difficult to enjoy the interim meetings, movies and workshops.

On Wednesday the IJA attempted a collective juggling act with so many different items ranging from workshops to movies that the inevitable result was more than a few drops in attendance at the business meeting.

Yet with Tuesday as the official start of the convention, it's tough to see where or how these important events might have been scheduled differently. Yet it is imperative that we do so.

One surprisingly simple solution is to extend the convention to seven days.  Already many jugglers either arrive a day early or stay a day late. The advantages of this small innovation could well lead to some large improvements both in convention scheduling and conventioneers' temperaments.

With the advent of the seven day week, IJA members could stay up late and sleep as long as their bodies required without having to feel that they are missing critical competitions or valuable workshops, which have begun in the past as early as 8:30 a.m.

A much prized annual reunion must be sensitive to the twin demands of jugglers who want to socialize and those who want to exhibit and compete with their respective skills and styles. There is a need for breathing space, spare moments in which to explore and serendipitously discover the myriad ways and means of juggling within a populace and atmosphere unique to the IJA annual convention.

I and a dozen friends wish to found the Japanese Jugglers' Association and request information on the IJA and its activities. We hope to send a small group to the Santa Barbara convention.

Passersby young and old are extremely interested in juggling and many women are already proficient thanks to the traditional bean-bag game, otedama. We believe that there should be a big movement once we get going. The Japan unicycling association has 100,000 members and a ball and cup toy, kendama, has its own organization.

The time is ripe for spreading leisure sports, and interest in American "booms" is high.

Stephen Baird has a good point.

There is a clear distinction between street performing on public land, which is your exercise of free speech, and performers auditioned and scheduled by merchants associations. Those of us fighting for more spots for performers should keep this distinction in mind.

The landmark case regarding performance on public land is District Court of the U.S. - Massachusetts #79-1455-2, Goldstein vs. Nantucket . In the decision, judge D.J. Zobel stated clearly that street music, even though it is commercial "speech," is protected by the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression, and not subject to narrow regulation by municipalities.

He stated, "the requirement of merchant's approval is irreconcilable with freedom of expression. it is unqualified censorship, and it is just what the First Amendment forbids."

Now we have two avenues to follow simultaneously. On the one hand we can educate those who exercise control over malls and protected private shop complexes using the San Francisco precedent. On the other hand, public officials should be made aware of Goldstein vs. Nantucket . (Send $1 for a copy).

Finally, anyone interested in helping develop street performance should get and read Passing the Hat: Street Performers In America , by Patricia J. Campbell, Delacorte Press, 1981. With all of this ammunition we should be able to open up spots all over the country!