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Writing is easy…

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

“Writing is easy. Just put a sheet of paper in the typewriter and start bleeding.”

– Thomas Wolfe

This quote has come up a few times, one a variation credited to Hemingway, others to authors I’ve not known before. But the quote has been rolling around in my head for days.

I read Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and I felt a very intimate sense of who she was, how she suffered, and what the journey meant. She bled, literally on the trail, and figuratively on the page. She exposed who she was.

It’s my intention to do the same, but in the writing, I always feel a bit of a filter in place. Not so much a mask of how I want people to see me, but more a guardedness about letting anyone become too intimately aware of my existence. Some sort of desire to remain among the transient awareness of reality.

It’s partially to blame for the vagabonding spirit I suppose. Anywhere I go, I can just as suddenly depart. While I’ve made many friends along the way, and good ones, any of them will say that I’m a shit-communicator when it comes to keeping in touch. Family likewise feels I stay distant, and I do.

I’m hopeful my summer will reveal more about me than I understand at this point. Cautiously optimistic, as anywhere you go, there you. But among the work requirements and the exploration, I’ll be sitting down at the computer and trying my best to bleed.

Here’s to whatever may come.

Participation, not consumption

by MAÔ, posted in Economy

It’s easy to view the world through a consumer’s lens. We’re bombarded by nonstop marketing all day long, and we forget that it’s a two-way Street.

Choices are a form of participation. We become part of the dialogue, as long as we take control of our actions rather than following programming blindly.

Considering all choices, and why we make them, will lead us to living a more engaged life.

Weekly Rundown

by MAÔ, posted in Social, Writing

I’ve not been wholly satisfied with the Weekly Rundowns, so I may be changing them a bit here in the near future. Still playing with form, so we’ll see how it lands. But for now, here’s some stuff for you:

Reading: Locke & Key Vol. 1 from IDW Comics, written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. And there he was again, this Joe Hill. Son of Stephen King, and prominent storyteller himself, has created a lot of buzz with Netflix’s adaptation of Locke  & Key. I think I became familiar with the series while reading the recent Hill House collaboration with DC Comics: Basketful of Heads, Daphne Byrne, et al. NOS4A2 was on AMC last year, and now Netflix has Locke. I watched it, I enjoyed it, and I wanted to see how close it got to the source material. I read Volume 1, and it’s close enough to be familiar, but different enough that I enjoy reading the comics even after watching the series.

Listening: Honestly, nothing with any repetition. No new music this week, though Flora Cash’s Somebody Else and Fun.’s 2012 album Some Nights have been in my head this past week.

Doing: Packing. With my months away quickly approaching, it’s been important to put as much as I can in storage, free up space around the house. I wanted to have a yard sale before leaving, but it’ll have to wait until I get back.

Sharing:

Taking it slow

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

Some things are meant to be fast. Races, for one. Even given the wisdom of “slow and steady…”, one must have the speed to win a race.

Manufacturing relies on the fastest possible systems to create the best possible good. When speed increases result in a decrease in quality, they know they’ve gone too far.

But other things are better, even only enjoyed, if done slowly. I’m reminded of the Japanese tea ceremony, which can clock in at about four hours.

Speeding it up would ruin the ceremonial aspect of it. It would be sipping a Lipton Brisk purchased at the Circle K. It wouldn’t be the same.

So when pushing through to the finish, be sure to ask yourself whether this would be better served by taking it just a little slower.

News cycles

by MAÔ, posted in News

The 24-hour news cycle is constantly updating, altering, and becoming more like a social media feed than a traditional news source.

That’s because the way we consume our news has changed, partially because the way we live our lives has changed. Morning routines don’t regularly include the newspaper, but almost consistently involves the mobile device.

What constant streaming of coverage provides is not up-to-date information (though occasionally it is), but rather an addiction to instant gratification. We feel we know, because we keep tuning in, or scrolling down.

It misses the connective processes that traditional news coverage would allow for. The coverage, interpretation, and conversation surrounding events. Now in its immediacy, the conversation is over almost as soon as it’s begun. And the interpretation doesn’t get a very long gestation period.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: slowing down allows for a more informed population.

First steps

by MAÔ, posted in Inspiration

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days. – Voltaire

There are many first steps we take. Every day is a first step, if we let it be. Don’t hold yourself back. Don’t be the only block to your success, your future, or your happiness.

The rest of your days depend upon that first step.

Carpe Diem

by MAÔ, posted in Inspiration

Some people wake each morning ready to face whatever the day may hold. Others dread even getting out of bed in the morning.

It all comes down to outlook.

“In India, there’s an old parable about a wise king who sent two of his court officers away to explore faraway lands. One of the courtiers, the king had observed, was arrogant and self-absorbed; the other was generous and open-minded. After many months of travel and exploration, both men returned home to report their findings. When the king questioned the men about the cities they visited, the generous courtier said that he found the people of foreign lands to be hospitable, generally kindhearted, and not much different from the people one met at home. On hearing this, the arrogant officer scoffed with envy, because the cities he’d visited were full of scheming liars, cheats, and wicked barbarians. Listening to these reports, the king laughed to himself – for he had sent both men to the same places.”

Cello variations

by MAÔ, posted in Travel

In listening to Bach’s Cello Suites, like I mentioned in this past Weekly Rundown,  I’m reminded of when I purchased my first copy of this album. I was in Chicago, I think February of 2010. I was there doing an audition for an MFA program, which I didn’t get into, but the night before I walked around the City.

I love Chicago. It has all the things I like about New York, with a little more organization. Strange that I should value organization in urban planning, but it was nice to walk a city block and know that the next block would be equidistant.

In a Barnes & Noble downtown, I purchased two CDs – Bach Cello Suites performed by Ralph Kirshbaum from Virgin Classics; and La Boheme, Puccini’s opera with Tebaldi, Bergonzi, Bastianini, and Serafin, from Decca’s Compact Opera Collection.

That same trip I saw Tracy Letts, Patrick Andrews, and Francis Guinan, in Mamet’s American Buffalo at the Steppenwolf Theatre.

I’d only been to Chicago one other time before that when I was very young, and I’m not sure when I’ll go back.