We are the Rabl Rousers.
Curiousity. Communication. Creativity. Community. Current. Contribution. We harmonize, together.
Welcome here, to Rabl Rousers by PJ Alexander (that’s me).
I imagine Rabl Rousers as those who awaken ourselves and rouse the crowd, in our own quiet and spectacular ways. We are the uncommon, common folks: inquisitive and critical with our minds, stretching our hearts towards compassion, creative with our hands, radically singing out our joy in finding wholeness amidst the mess.
This is a place where I share musings, music, and miscellaneous mischief-making, in the form of blog, v-log, podcast and song. I scavenge what life churns up for me in the current moment—and if you are here, perhaps it is churning for you, too—metabolize it into the ways I have of expressing, then share it up in what I hope is a useable or enjoyable form.
If any of the key words in the subtitle feel present for you right now, then maybe you are in the right place. I hope you stick around to find out.
The name *Rabl Rousers* grew out of my love of words and sounds, and out of the desire to invert, subvert, and trickster-dance all over a certain notion of ‘power’—you know, the old-fashioned, hierarchical, tribal, whoever-has-the-most-(blah blah blah) kind of power.
*rabl* is a family surname in a dialect of German, one of the languages of my european tribe. It means ‘little raven’. Ravens abound and circle daily, where I live, and are very special to me. They are known to be highly intelligent, to enjoy play and companionship, and to metabolize whatever they scavenge—what they root out of the messes and entrails of life—into nourishment. Ravens have many sounds and ways of expressing themselves. In mythology, ravens often exist in the liminal spaces between light and dark, dreaming and waking, life and death. They see the big picture; they fly around in the Mystery. Their love of shiny beautiful things often gets them into mischief, which nevertheless brings back a boon to gift the society they live in.
(Fun, Ironic Fact: did you know a flock of ravens is called a ‘conspiracy?’)
The word ‘rabl’ is also, of course, a play on *rabble*. In the Middle Ages or so, ‘rabble’ was a rather contemptuous term related to a pack of noisy animals, meaning a ‘tumultuous crowd of noisy, vulgar people,’ i.e. the common populace. I can imagine a feudal overlord using it to describe our ancestors in a not-so-complimentary way. But it also, in various European language roots, means something like ‘to dig up, to churn, to plow up, to root out’.
*rousers* is, frankly, a word I picked because I liked how it flowed with ‘rabl’. Like the bards of old, I like me so toothsome alliteration, and I remember giggling at some old-timers saying that phrase when I was a kid. And then—in a wonderful synchronicity—I learned ‘rousers’ comes from yet another bird term. It was first used in English by hawkers to describe hawks shaking the feathers of the body, from the word ‘rouse’ derived from the Old French ‘reuser’ or ‘ruser’ . It came to mean ‘to stir up, awaken, provoke to activity.’
Rabl Rousers are the folk in the crowd who wake up, and stir things up. But we are not the egregiously noisy, vulgar crowd projected by the feudal overlords of old (or the plutocratic, neo-feudal overlords of today).
Oh no. I’m clear, in fact, that we Rabl Rousers are rather particular. If you are here with me, I imagine that you are:
-Curious about what is being rooted out and awakened, in your life or in the life of the collective. What is my perspective? What are the limitations of my perspective? What information am I missing? What might be gained by seeing from another vantage point? What needs to happen so I can?
-Communicators who are committed to practicing your best expressive and listening self at home, in relationship, at work, on media, as a citizen. You aren’t just interested in making noise; you’d like to see if we can harmonize, together. . . and what happens when we do.
-Creative—because we are each creative—but more specifically, in the sense of making anything with your hands, growing flowers or food, composing and singing songs or poetry, storytelling, mending and fixing anything you value, dancing and athletic endeavours, entrepreneurship, using what you have and what you know to design, innovate or imagine something new and needed by the people around you.
-Current, Contemporary—you are not just interested in ideas, but how you can apply them to the contexts and events we find ourselves in, right now.
-Community thinkers, in that you wonder to yourself, as I do, ‘What is a community?’ You have concerns, desires, and hopes for the present and future of your town, organization, country or planet. Maybe online, and especially IRL.
-Contributors in alignment with your skills and capacity, wherever you are. Sometimes you need connection or a call to action—a little fire-y inspiration around which to gather and warm your hands—and sometimes you are the fire that ignites and lights the way for those in your own circle.
We are the Rabl Rousers, the common yet not-so-common citizens: curious to know one another better, surprise ourselves with what harmonious creations might arise out of the discordant churn-up, and contribute according to our gifts.
Let’s go shake some feathers.
And go ahead, please tell your friends!