No matter what Election Day may bring —and I’m conscious that on whatever date you may be reading there will likely remain massive uncertainties ahead — it would be irresponsible to pretend that the travails of the day can just be ignored. They cannot be ignored. Artists especially cannot avert their eyes, even as the balm of creative work promises a cloak of comparative purpose, or at least meaningful pursuit. To pretend that our collective, human induced problems are not substantial would be to assert an abdication of civic engagement.
Read MoreAmazing! Have a Nice Day!
Language matters. When we use it without precision, we sow seeds of misunderstanding, which ultimately inculcates friction. When what we mean gets diluted by imprecision often enough, we begin to lose firm grasps on what each other deeply believes.
Read MoreWHAT I TRY TO REMEMBER
Art is the reason to preserve life in the first place, to fortify our shelters and our camp, to share sustenance with others around the fire. Art is the reason we exist. We exist to create; creation becomes the over arching beauty worth pursuing in a finite life; beauty is the reason to endure.
Read MoreMETEOR
Humans and meteors, we’re both traveling. Most days are just like the day before, essentially traveling through irrelevant void: cold, dark, mostly alone.
Read MoreLOSS OF MEMORY
Creative works are hardly ballast against the drowning, downward pull of recent events. Art is not “the answer”, especially considering how time and time and time again the human collective seems to eschew creative options in favor of destructive ones. It’s inevitable, perhaps, to wonder: does art really matter in the face of humanity’s often malevolent inclinations?
Read MoreIRL (In Real Life)
I don’t want to draw from abstractions about the world to create new realities. I want to draw from the real world in order to create abstractions. My feeling is that this is a thought can apply to everyone, no matter what you do for a living.
Read MoreEVERYTHING IS FREE
The trend toward “free” under-values the ability to create great music because musicians cannot support themselves simply on the merits of their ability to play. The pursuit of the ability to make great music, to extend the example, requires financial support in some appreciable measure, and when those payments fall beneath a certain threshold, excellence cannot easily develop
Read MoreRelavitism
Does classical music demonstrate a higher level of artistic value as a genre than, say, American folk music? The perils of relativism really roar when trying to compare separate but related ideas.
Read MoreTHE ALLURE OF SURFACES
How far away do creative people fall when they eschew anything but perfected surfaces? What happens when we no longer appreciate the smear of real paint?
Read MoreLove in the Time of Corona
I’ve also got a journalistic gene. It goes to the bone and runs in the family. That’s why the travails of our collective current circumstances compel me to action as much as they infiltrate my concentration.
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