Ideas. I love 'em. Right now, I have an idea. I won't bore you with the details just yet (but I certainly will if it pans out, you lucky devils) but I love the feeling of an idea. Something clicks, hits... whatever... And it's all excitement and nervous energy. The idea just turns over and over in my head and, in the immortal words of the Kinks, I gotta move! Gotta do something!
Once started, I can't stop. I have to see it through. Good or bad/inspired or mediocre/for better or for worse, I have to get it out of my head. Sketch it out! Tell someone! Jot it down! It's the only way to deal with it. Otherwise, I feel I'd explode. My wife would come in the room and I'd be in a thousand pieces; destroyed by the energy of the thing.
I tend to disregard the approval of others when following an idea. I just gotta follow it where it goes. If they don't play out; oh, well... Perhaps next time, right? If this plays, I'll share. If not, oh, well... There'll be others.
Great news, nerds! The actress Sean Young has released her collection of Polaroids from her stint on the set of Blade Runner (1982). This combines candid, inexpertly captured photos (which are inherently great) AND Blade Runner. By the by, Blade Runner is an amazing film (particularly the director's cut). If you haven't seen it, I pity your sad, sheltered existence.
I show you this video to ask simply: Where? Where has our America gone? With what vain, silent whimper has the hope; the drive; the future promised by so many past generations died?
I'm not talking about the jet packs and weekend trips to the Moon. No, citizens. I'm thinking of the end of tyranny the world over; the liberation of oppressed peoples domestically and abroad; the commitment to firm, lasting peace. But, this is not news.You know it. Perhaps, you don't think of it but you feel it. Flip through your news channels. Do you see the manifestation of this promise, this pledge, this dream? No, of course not. No, you see celebrity gossip, talking heads shouting nonsense, viral advertising but nothing of the great dream that is America.
I'm far too young to remember JFK's speech or even the immediate impact of his brief presidency. However, as one of the last generations of the 20th Century, I know what we were to inherit. Apathy, crippling poverty, political stalemate, corporate despotism are not the ends to which JFK vowed his generation's energies and aspirations. Peace, prosperity, security, and liberty were what he and his generation envisioned for us.
In that 13 minutes and 43 seconds John F. Kennedy summarizes the ever-optimistic exercise that is our great republic. He calls to arms every man and woman of this nation to unite in the common goals of our brothers and sisters abroad. He knew that this country could accomplish anything if united but absolutely nothing if divided. He recognized, as Lincoln did a century prior, that to focus on our differences (be they political, racial, or otherwise) was to prescribe our failure; our defeat.
Politicians too concerned with constituencies, campaign financing, and "party lines" to fight for the noble ideal of America. A citizenry too easily distracted with Reality TV, tax breaks, and vague double-speak nonsense (like "patriot" and "real Americans") has become complaisant and disinterested in this "America". We are our greatest enemy, ladies and gentlemen! More gravely threatening to our nation than "socialism" or even "terrorism" is our own inaction; our thoughtless acceptance of what is as immutable.
Please don't mistake my passion. I'm not some extremist nut job; shut away in some remote forest, amassing an arsenal and worried about the "International Communist Conspiracy" (as far as you can prove). I'm just another citizen; another American. A liberal-minded "centrist", W.A.S.P., and under 30 for you poll-takers in the audience. Perhaps too young or too idealistic to have given up what I believe our fore-bearers envisioned for us but believing eternally that the destiny of mankind is peace, tolerance, and cooperation.
But don't despair, citizens. It can be done! It can be ours! I know it seems huge, perhaps insurmountable. You're right: it is a massive undertaking. But remember: those brave, discontented individuals who drafted the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution did have the ability (or even any idea quite how) to deliver all those documents promised to the generations that followed yet here we stand.
I'm not sure where your politics lie but I can assure you we will accomplish nothing divided; perfectly nothing. To allow our petty disagreements distract us from delivering on the liberty, peace, prosperity, and security which is the birthright of every American citizen (and citizen of the world!) regardless of faith, race, nation of origin, or gender. To, instead of being concerned with our differences, be concerned with how we can best overcome them for our common benefit. We must those we elect to these goals and, indeed, ourselves.
When I auditioned for the Savannah Arts Academy (a local art-centric high school or SCAD High as we liked to call it then), I was told by the head of the Visual Arts department that I "had very little talent to speak of but had good ideas and a great eye for design." How's that for confidence building.
At the time I was thrilled to get in and was promised by the same man that he would be exceedingly hard on me (I also thought he was a jerk, for the record). On the first day of school that year, the Visual Arts instructor told me I would have to work much harder than my classmates to make up for what I lacked in raw talent (further evidence of his "jerk-hood", I thought).
He was very demanding of me and I did work much harder than the majority of my classmates. I was able to graduate with the same man commenting to the class on our last Visual Arts Technique & Composition session that I was the most improved, hardest-working student he'd ever had.
I've thought about those statements and experiences off and on the the years following. In a lot of ways I think my high school art teacher pegged me. For all my confidence in most areas of my life, I still feel this way about any of my creative endeavors. I feel largely talentless. I do work hard at my projects but struggle ideas and inspiration.
I'd like to think that lots of people deal with these feelings. My humility (yes, I have humility although I keep it well in check) doesn't quite allow me to believe that I'm alone in this. If they do, I love to know how they content with it.
Butch, beautiful, brilliant, Captain America meets Albert Schweitzer. Spends all day dashing into fray while making world safe for democracy; at night playing Bach cantatas while curing cancer.
