Monday, April 27, 2009

some mystery. it's right here.

So I think I figured out why I was having such a hard time with creating something for the beat show, and for creating in general. That feeling of inauthenticity and disconnectedness, of trying to hard but not hard enough, and of a shallow result that didn't say anything or was too contrived. 

It was because I was trying to mimick the effects, rather than be inspired by the roots.

This is the same problem that made the Beatnik. So now that I've realized this I've tried to come up with a few things that will hopefully help me with Beat-ness (because who doesn't want to have that Beat sensibility?) and with authentic creativity in general. Here are the things I've come up with so far that I haven't done before:

Continue reading

 

  • Read through ALL of the material. Books, poems, letters, articles, anything I've been given and anything else I can find. Thoroughly. Thoughtfully. Many times.
  • Write. Write and write and write. What I think, feel, reactions, inner musings, physical experiences, big questions, silly stories, notes, things that are "out there", etc.
  • Listen to and watch music, readings, films, performances, etc. Think about it.
  • Talk to other people. Have conversations. Have adventures.
It all comes down to time invested, effort invested, and a heightened consciousness of the world and myself through a sensibility that gets to the roots of things. Not letting things fly by me with a simple nod before I move on to the next thing. I need to spend time. I need to spend effort. The answer is with me, not with anything or anyone else.

This summer I plan to continue this blog. I will hopeuflly post much more of my own work along with thoughts, conversations, etc. I essentially want to go over everything we talked about in class all over again but in more depth and see what more I can reap from it. I'm looking forward to continuing this class with myself here and with friends.

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