[Cartoon found at the site of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland.]
From whiskey river:
Bad People
A man told me once that all the bad people
Were needed. Maybe not all, but your fingernails
You need; they are really claws, and we know
Claws. The sharks — what about them?
They make other fish swim faster. The hard-faced men
In black coats who chase you for hours
In dreams — that’s the only way to get you
To the shore. Sometimes those hard women
Who abandon you get you to say, “You.”
A lazy part of us is like a tumbleweed.
It doesn’t move on its own. Sometimes it takes
A lot of Depression to get tumbleweeds moving.
Then they blow across three or four States.
This man told me that things work together.
Bad handwriting sometimes leads to new ideas;
And a careless god — who refuses to let people
Eat from the Tree of Knowledge — can lead
To books, and eventually to us. We write
Poems with lies in them, but they help a little.
(Robert Bly, Morning Poems [source])
…and:
We think hitting the ground, knocking over the barrier is a mistake, but the ground we hit, the failure we experience is not a mistake. The world is endlessly mysterious, experience is profound to a degree that will always surprise us. But it is never a mistake. To foster even a meager appreciation of that (and when we’re in the midst of a fall, meager is pretty big) is to begin to practice, to raise the bodhi-mind. It is the decision to stop complaining and to start paying attention. Contained in the fall is exactly what we need to stand. Everything we need is available, but we have to invite it.
(Bonnie Myotai Treace [source])
Not from whiskey river:
“People aren’t either wicked or noble,” the hook-handed man said. “They’re like chef’s salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”
(Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), The Grim Grotto [source])
…and:
Another Plot Cliché
My dear, you are the high-speed car chase, and I,
I am the sheet of glass being carefully carried
across the street by two employees of Acme Moving
who have not parked on the right side
because the plot demands that they make
the perilous journey across traffic,
and so they are cursing as rehearsed
as they angle me into the street, acting as if
they intend to get me to the department store, as if
I will ever take my place as the display window, ever clear
the way for a special exhibit at Christmas, or be Windexed
once a day, or even late at night, be pressed against
by a couple who can’t make it back to his place,
and so they angle me into the street, a bright lure,
a provocative claim, their teaser, and indeed
you can’t resist my arguments, fatally flawed
though they are, so you come careening to but and butt
and rebut, you come careening, you being
both cars, both chaser and chased, both good and bad, both
done up with bullets that haven’t yet done you in.
I know I’m done for: there’s only one street
on this set and you’ve got a stubborn streak a mile long.
I can smell the smoke already.
No matter, I’d rather shatter
than be looked through all day. So come careening; I know
you’ve other clichés to hammer home: women with groceries
to send spilling, canals to leap as the bridge is rising.
And me? I’m so through. I’ve got a thousand places to be.
(Rebecca Hoogs [source])
Over at the KickStarter “crowdsourced funding platform” site, pretty much any artist, performer, writer, photographer (etc.) can actively pursue the spinning of gold from the straw of their empty pockets. (Block that metaphor!) This week a band called Sons of Bill joined their ranks, proposing to fund production of their third album through KickStarter. As you can see, they hit their target — $20,000 — within twenty-four hours, although the donation period stretches all the way to April 1. (As of this moment, they’re at almost $25K.) I don’t know how they plan to spend the extra funds, but typically with KickStarter projects any money beyond the target gets used to polish the resulting work somehow. (It goes to more professional marketing and distribution, say, or to the rental of better production facilities, whatever.) So, we’ll see.
In the meantime, below are Sons of Bill, performing an acoustic version of “Santa Ana Winds.”* I’d buy their album just on the strength of this example: this is a written song.
(Also at YouTube, see a 2009 interview with brothers James and Sam Wilson of Sons of Bill, by radio station WNRN. And if you like your music less acoustic, rockier, you may prefer the live performance of “Santa Ana Winds” over there.)
_________________________________
* This seems to be their own song, by the way — not any of the surprisingly numerous other songs on the same phenomenon by the Beach Boys, Survivor, etc.
Nance says
You know, I almost never think to go to the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute for my cartoons *^)
“’People aren’t either wicked or noble,’ the hook-handed man said.’ ” This type of drollery could become a specialized sub-genre of Tweets. But, I have no doubt that it already is and I’m the last person to know of it. Gosh, that sounds discouraged; it might be the music.
I’d never heard of Kickstarter, but what a grand idea. While I’m not quite up to a flat-affect lament on mortality from Sons of Bill this morning, no matter how writerly it may be, I am tickled with some other things I’m finding on Kickstarter. Thanks!
marta says
Oh, I was loving the Lemony Snicket quote and the Plot Cliche. (I can’t watch the video yet since I’m at a restaurant and the other patrons might object.) Then I read the Kickstarter reference and, aurgh, I’ve been meaning and meaning to look more into that, and figure out a way to make that work, and to somehow get the imagination and courage to pursue it…
I feel less kickstarted and more kicked on my butt.
John says
Hi, Nance — I thought it was an odd place to find a cartoon… now I’ve got professional confirmation!
I love KickStarter and (like Marta) regret only that I haven’t come up with a specific idea requiring donations. I’d like to believe I could get by with an “I just need time…” pitch. Like, “If I could afford a two-month unpaid leave of absence from my day job, folks, I could really finish the work-in-progress in style!” But that seems not to be in the proper spirit. Plus, I have no idea how I’d scale the donations. (“$500: I name a character after you.” “$5,000: I name a character after your worst enemy, and use your words to describe him or her.”)
A few KickStarter projects have pulled me into their donor lists so far. If I made, say, $50K more a year, I think I’d spend a good chunk of it on other projects. Maybe that’s my project — “Donate to me and I’ll turn around and donate it to projects I like”?
marta says
@John – Ha. Like the last idea.
But really, I know what you mean about wanting time! Can I buy that?
And I do have one idea, but can’t fully put it together or figure out if it is pitchable. I want to make a series of handmade books, but I can’t really afford the materials. And then again I also want to make an animated film but can’t afford a film camera.
If you want to give away some thoughts/suggestions on the matter, feel … free.
John says
marta, I know — know — there’s gotta be a KickStarter project for you. I mean, hey — you make actual tangible PRODUCTS, right?
John says
marta: Sorry, crossed paths for a moment there…
I think one of the hardest things for me to get through before starting a KickStarter project would be the knowledge that I’m asking people to donate $$$ for a product which I haven’t even, er, produced. Since I have donated to projects there, I know it’s possible to create a pitch which would (should) get me past that. Still…
One project in the Writing/Publishing category right now is called Isn’t It Pretty to Think So?. This guy started posting excerpts from a work-in-progress novel on his tumblelog; the response he got was encouraging enough that he quit his job to work on it full-time. He’s asking for $10K in pledges, and is currently within $700-some of that target with three days to go. Now, that’s scary. But it also seems to indicate that it’s possible to pull off the “buy me time!” deal.
I’ve got ideas for YOU, just none for me. :) Might be better to talk about the former in email, though. I’d hate to give a brainstorm to some lurker who’d only wind up a competitor for your donors!
marta says
@John – email away! And I’ll think a bit harder…
whaddayamean says
the Rebecca Hoogs poem is terrific.
you’ve also reminded me of Order of the Phoenix, in which (I believe) Sirius says, “The world isn’t made up of good people and death eaters, Harry. There is darkness in each of us.” Or something.
whaddayamean says
oh, and separately–i LOVE the wong kar-wai film IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. although i admit that i don’t understand the end, although i’ve watched it probably 20 times.
The Querulous Squirrel says
Love Lemony Snicket who says he basically stole all his work from Edward Gorey though they each have a different esthetic. Both’s work suggest that 95% of all worries DO indeed happen. So there’s really no point in worrying.
John says
marta: Sorry I dropped out for a few days there… I’ll see if I can compress my thoughts into something potentially useful for you. :)
John says
whaddayamean: I’ve read your second comment like a half-dozen times and find myself wondering what I missed (aside from the film itself, which sounds awfully good and obviously belongs on my Netflix queueueue). If you’re still following this thread, just out of curiosity: what made you mention it here?
(I kept thinking you’d somehow posted the comment on the wrong blog, ha.)
John says
Squirrel: I’d never read that Lemony Snicket quote before but I love Gorey.
On the subject of worrying, especially writerly worrying, I refer you (and anyone else still paying attention) to his The Unstrung Harp. That’s an image from it over on the right (a little hard to read at that reduction, but it rewards the effort).
I’ll have to see if I can find some better images lying around… Gorey, and that book, probably rates a separate post here!
marta says
@John -I want to say both “Thank you!” and “You know you don’t have to, right?”
You have other things to do, but then again I appreciate other people’s insights and ideas.
In any event, your constant support is very appreciated.
Froog says
Ah, “the unspeakable horror of the literary life”!
“Now we see the violins inherited in the cistern.”
John says
Froog: I thought you were referring to this (along about 2:50 or so):
I’d never even heard of Martin Rowson until doing a search on your phrase. Now that I’ve done so, I can say: Ha!
fg says
I have had a couple of friends use Kickstarter successfully. Mind boggling really. I like the concept.
Self publishing now knows no limits and has the potential for an unlimited global (invested) audience.
John says
fg: I love the breadth of Kickstarter projects, and how easily so many of them seem to hit their targets. Wonder if they’ve ever posted statistics of how many projects reach their funding goals?
I’ve avoided saying much about self-publishing here. Partially because it’s a sensitive subject for writers, who as a class are positively manic-depressive about the subject. And partially because I myself am both excited by the prospects and skeptical that I’ll live long enough to see those prospects come to fruition… but imagine I’ll live just long enough to be battered senseless by all the confusion and controversy and upheaval. The devil you know vs. the devil you don’t know, right?