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people perceive as valuable. I will say that I think jugglers, no matter what level they are on, have a nice quality of being able to face up to humility. Juggling is a very confronting discipline. When you drop, you drop. In other disciplines you can get away with being sloppy or fooling yourself. Juggling, rope walking, unicycling, stilt walking, these are all warrior disciplines. They take something extra.

JW: Some people in San Jose wondered why you didn't compete in the U.S. Nationals? Why didn't you?

MM: My primary reason has been the videotaping policy, combined with the precarious and controversial atmosphere. Juggling is difficult to define and is subject to the discretion of the judges. I don't think that judges should be the ones to decide what good juggling is. I think all jugglers and people should. I base my score on the amount of enthusiasm that the juggling cultivates, not on how many objects I perform.

I also think the fact that competitors have to agree to videotaping undermines a quality atmosphere in the jugglers' world and increases the tendency that the finite market will be tainted for that performer through copy cats. If someone has a routine which has elements of 'trademark' moves and personally crafted choreography, the policy is at the very least inconsiderate. I've been trying to set an example by taking a stand on the matter. Like I said earlier, though, I don't like crusading. I have to deal with the reality of less sophisticated attitudes about copyrighted material and decide what is in my best interest in lieu of the situation.

JW: Does that mean .you might be competing at some point?

MM: It's possible.

JW: What are your long term goals, and what are you doing in New Jersey beside your writing projects?

MM: I have been awarded an Interdisciplinary Fellowship Grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to develop concert material and promote my career. Last April I performed a full concert of juggling mixed with vaudevillestyle sketches, silent theatre, storytelling, unicycling, dance, and multi-image projection to music I composed. I'm pioneering somewhat the context in which juggling is viewed.

However, the future is hard to predict. There are many things I'd like to do, but time is short. I'm keeping my eyes peeled to develop intimate work with props in a completely neutral performance space. In theatrical jargon it is known as the "blackbox performance space." I would like eventually to work in my own space of this kind, to develop a core of creative people and to set in motion lengthier workshops in juggling, theatre and self-exploration.

Ideas always go on to bigger and better ideas and now I've incorporated my network of associates as the Alternate Routes Theatre - not a theatre company, but an arena of alternative thinking and creativity. Juggling can be a limited thing to speak of and I've got a little bit more up my sleeves. At the same time, simplicity is of the essence, and the world being what it is, I'm taking it one day at a time, enjoying the performing, the people, the traveling and the applause.