Well, it's a new
year. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, even that Mayan apocalypse
malarkey is all safely behind us now.
As we march bravely
into 2013, here's a little inspirational story for all you artists
and poetic souls out there.
Some months ago I
was at a library sale, where they had not only books to buy, but also
some audio cassettes at $1 apiece.
Among
the cassettes was a box set of Derek Jacobi reading Le
Morte d'Arthur, Thomas Mallory's
famous book of Arthurian tales, a book that a teacher had once
encouraged me to read back when I was a sword-and-sorcery-obsessed
teenager. I'd never gotten around to actually reading it, and now I
had an opportunity to have Sir Derek read it to me. Even though this
box set contained several tapes, I got the whole thing for $1.
At home, I played
the first side of the first tape, in my CD/cassette combo player that
had served me faithfully for 22 years. But then I could play no more.
The cassette part of the player had finally died.
In casual
conversation with my mom one day, I mentioned that I'd bought this
book-on-tape but was unable to play it. Then, the next few times I
saw or spoke to her, she started asking me unsubtle follow-up
questions. I thought, “She's fishing for Christmas present ideas,
and wants to buy me some gadget for playing tapes.”
Sure enough, come
Christmas day, I get a mighty CD/cassette/MP3 playing boombox for
Christmas. All because I mentioned my interest in listening to a book
on tape I'd bought for $1.
OK, maybe that's
not the most inspirational story of all time. But the point is: If
you have dreams, share them. You never know who might be inspired to
take part in them, and help them to come true.
Some dreams are
harder to admit to than wanting to play some used cassettes. But
you'll never know if you don't communicate them to others.
I wrote most of this blog entry on a train ride home from NYC, where I spent New Year's weekend
at a friend's party. On the ride down, I watched and listened to some
recordings I'd downloaded at various times but never got around to
watching and listening to.
Without thinking
about it, the ones I chose were interviews with fantasy/sci-fi
authors. Doing so made me think yet again about why we write, and why
we tell heroic stories about accomplishments and great deeds. The
highbrow awards might go mostly to stories about defeat and
depression, being sullen and sulking. But stories about action –
about people doing things and succeeding – are just as important,
just as essential to our health.
I also
got around to reading an online transcript of a circa-1999 interview
with cyberpunk author
William Gibson. He mostly was making fairly abstract statements about
the modern media and how our perceptions have been changed by it. Of
course, things have changed even more since that time. Back then –
and for several decades prior – the way to be hip was to show how
deep and introverted you were, and how alienated from society you
were.
But cyberspace (as it was called then) has turned out to be a vehicle
for jokes and socializing and self-promotion, not just urban angst.
Even the hipsters have gotten wackier. I'm not much of a gamer
anymore, but there's an argument to be made that exploring virtual
worlds are a way of safely testing strategies that you could then
apply successfully in real life.
And in a way, all the free nonsense you can get on the Internet –
legally and illegally – has raised the standards. Art seems less
precious. The moving image isn't put on a pedestal anymore, not when
the tools for making it have become more accessible. It's easier to
create, but harder to create in a way that will be considered good.
As other writers have pointed out, pop culture has become more
complex and challenging, with elaborate TV story arcs and branching
computer-game narratives.
When you create something now, you gotta think about why you're doing
it, and who you're doing it for. Art for its own sake doesn't seem to
be enough anymore. There needs to be a human connection.
But just because it's harder doesn't mean you shouldn't try. You
don't truly know whether your vision communicates if you don't
communicate it.
The old attitudes die hard. Many people – especially of my
generation – seem convinced that hating something is always smarter
than loving something, or that people who do nothing but complaining
and passing judgment are somehow superior to people who actually
manage to create something or make something happen. There's an
attitude that people with achievements and accomplishments are the
bad guys, and that being a do-nothing is the only way to keep it
real.
The trick is to not let those attitudes hold you back. My New Year's
resolution is to keep it positive. So aim high, dream big, work hard,
and make those New Year's resolutions come true.
Have a happy, prosperous, and productive 2013!
