I write the things here that I wish people could tell me when I’m struggling to continue to be creative in a world that values quantity, production and purchase over form or function.
If you really want to know more about what this blog is about, check out the post I wrote called Program Yourself to Be Your Own Self. That about sums it up. Another summation is Your Title: Does it Define You As A Person.
One thing I do here (when these people acquiesce to my bloggy whims) is showcase a variety of work from other creative peeps, from photographers to fashionistas, writers to musicians. People who think they are artists and people who don’t think they are, because so many people seem to struggle with the am I or am I not quandary. I think only you yourself can decide if you are or you aren’t.
In my opinion creativity breeds creativity.
Mostly my conversations are directed at nebulous others who I have not yet met, but who I think are really cool. These (quite possibly imaginary) people are building up their own towers of Babel. They will defy the majority’s misappropriation of resources. They will use the fuel from their maladjustment to divine meaning from within tar pits of fracture and disillusionment. Because of their dedication to illumination we will break out of our current society’s stricture of wayward structures and pain.
I’m nobody, just a muse.
(I am a published, working writer and working hard on being more of a full-time musician (singer/guitarist), though I have no delusions of grandeur. Ok, maybe sometimes. So sue me.)
We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
You’ve taken the words right out of my head!
I don’t see a place to follow your blog….
please read mine at rockcitypoet@blogspot.com
Hi there,
I’ve added a link on the front page (scroll to the bottom, on the right) to sign up for email subscription, thanks for your comment and I’ll check out your blog!
I can’t seem to post to your latest blog entry for some reason, it’s driving me nuts!
I’ve often had to struggle with this concept with other writers – the whole work getting in the way of creativity. The whole Finances vs. Time to create struggle – and while one writing buddy of mine pointed out I had not even followed through with National Novel Writing Month whatsoever, I had to point out that unlike them I work a full time job, a part time job, and rely on no one but myself to pay the bills.
It would be glorious to live at home and have my bills paid for while I wrote, like my aforementioned writing friend, I used to think.
But I think writers especially need to experience the struggle, and not just halfway.
Kerouac, while completely lauded – had abandoned his daughter and wife to bum around and create Beat wonders. (His daughter’s bio is pretty sad, and I almost cringe whenever I read it.) Steve Jobs was able to backpack overseas in his youth – I don’t think he did that on his own money, just as Kerouac frequently relied on other folks generosity. I think both either relied on money from others, or possible an upbringing that afforded parents to front the money in Job’s case. I think there’s a delicate line here – a good portion of the people who broke the rules and knew which ones to abide by had a heft leg up on the whole situation. I don’t think I’d be able to afford to backpack across India trippin’ on LSD for seven months like Job’s did, or would shamble around dirty, drunk, and ‘creating’ while my daughter knew I didn’t want her. There has to be a happy medium – something! – and I think your post brushes on that. Some people got it, some people don’t. The rest of us are stumbling blindly though limbo.
Your post is thought provoking, and I’d love to write more, but I’m off to work
I read Jan Kerouac’s autobiography too, and it made me feel disgusted with Jack Kerouac…for the exact same reasons.
It’s funny, I’m glad you mention those things, because I was trying to think of more interesting examples to use and I felt like I couldn’t.
I also don’t know how I feel about Steve Jobs!
I could, and possibly will, write pages in response to your various posts. First of all, I’m glad that you somehow found my blog. Not because I care how many ‘followers’ I have. I’d rather have 10 people who actually ‘get it’ and for some reason care what I’m doing than a 1000 who follow for whatever reasons they have. I’M NOT FOLLOWING YOU BECAUSE YOU’RE FOLLOWING ME!! I only follow about 5 blogs, and yours is the only one that is primarily ‘just someone’s thoughts and feelings’. I’ve read just a few of your posts, and couldn’t ‘skim’ them, and couldn’t stop till I finished them. I’ll be back. Mike
Thanks Mike! I found out about your blog because you “liked” one of my posts. Good way to discover people!
I like your art work.
Thanks, and I consider your writing ‘art’, whatever else you do. What is your name, or don’t you give that out?
M
Glad we found each other! Great blog.
Thank you! There are so many blogs out there, it’s nice to find some genuine articles.
What a nice thing for you to say!
I went searching for interesting blogs the other day and only a handful stuck out, the rest were like personal diaries and apologies for not updating…:)
You have been nominated for the Sunshine Award:
http://patheticwithpotential.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/you-are-my-sunshine-you-make-me-happy-when-skies-are-grey-23/
Hey, I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger award!
I really like how you keep it real and that you are clean and sober…”keep on rockin in the free world”!
http://cloudborne.wordpress.com/
Thank you!!
Hi Kyrsten, Could you send me your email address?
To: mfsmith46@gmail.com
thanks, Mike
Last year, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet near Stockholm found that families with a history of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were more likely to produce artists and scientists. They built on this evidence in a new study, published this month in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, which covers a larger population sample and a wider scope of psychiatric diagnoses.
The researchers used 40-years’ worth of data from Sweden’s health registry, looking at the anonymous records of almost 1.2 million patients and their relatives. They found certain mental illness — in particular bipolar disorder — are more common among artists and scientists, from dancers and photographers to researchers and authors.
Writers specifically were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, and they were almost 50 percent more likely to commit suicide than the general population, the study found.
Creative types also were more likely to have family members being treated for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia and autism.
Mike
My friend showed me that article. Makes me wonder, though, if perhaps artists just don’t fit in to the normal paradigm of society, and are labelled mentally ill because they think and feel more intensely and differently, or if this society is what pushes a lot of us over the edge.
Yeah, My wife is a psych therapist, and I’ve asked her a few times if it isn’t their job to help people labeled ‘mentally ill, to fit into a society that is basically fucked up.
Mike
Hi Kyrsten, Your post for this Monday didn’t come through. Mike
try again!! should be there!