Hello, I’m a working class creative.
I’m currently writing, recording, and procrastinating on this blog.
I’m also sharing photo/video prompts on Instagram to jump-start your creativity!
Idlewind is meant to instigate artistic projects in my community with friends/collaborators, and to encourage working class artists elsewhere to believe in their creative projects and see them through. I’d love to hear what you’re up to.
Make art. Make haste.
j
Hi folks!
I didn’t get to come home for lunch today so this episode had to happen on the go! This is Take 2 of a conversation with myself about patience, as the plans are reinvented.
It was a pretty long day, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Much love,
j
Are you a working class creative? I’d love to know how you make creativity work with a dayjob!
In the valley of fluorescence
a narrowing conch
hiding a benevolence
underneath and above and outside of the things that limbed creatures should be doing
outside of myself,
looking down as a figure that knows not how to fly, mostly hover;
translucent
and afraid of what will happen
when the wind picks up
and retrieves
the rubbish
all around.
“Is this my place? Up here,
down below? A few steps to the left, or the right?
Is there policy for this direction forthwith?” No procedure for this.
And in my bedhead,
translucent as well, and loud to the touch,
these fingers,
these broken pointers
can no longer heal or cause
a damn thing.
j
Hey folks!
The weekend is here and I could not be more thrilled! Here’s a few things I hope to use down the road for creative inspiration.
An artist has been painting people from classical paintings into today’s world…
Enjoy the weekend folks! Much love,
j
Some stream of consciousness musings and conclusions:
Step 1. Produce and create unashamedly. Step 2. Collaboration fuels and accelerates creative improvement.
I’d also like to share an anecdote about talented friends bailing out my art. It happens.
Have you ever had a project completely transform for the better through tough collaboration? I would love to hear your story. Let me know here: https://idlewy.blog/you/
Much love,
j
Any writer worth a damn knows discipline lies at the core of a solid, fulfilling writing life. I learned this one the hard way.
In college, we had a guest artist teach a few classes in my junior year. It was nice for a theater department in the middle of nowhere to bring professionals for us to get to know more about the craft, since it took a while for the trends to make their way to Wyoming. This individual brought an intense east coast attitude; a straightforwardness I wasn’t used to, and I struggled with it throughout his entire class. I was raised in a small town, I didn’t know how to deal with that level of directness. From the get-go, I thought he was out to get me. Don’t get me wrong, his criticisms in acting class were never out of line. This professor was not a villain, but I saw him as one back then. When I was a kid, I thought anyone asking me to challenge myself was asking me to compromise who I was. I misunderstood often, so I didn’t listen when I should have been. As you can guess, I didn’t do very well in his class. I went to see him at his office and long-story short, he asked me what I wanted to do with my writing, which has always been my primary creative focus. He wanted to know the end goal I had in mind. I told him I wanted to write movies. That’s when he said “I don’t think that’s going to work out for you. Movies and TV, with all their deadlines, that’s not what you’re cut out for. You need time, you need to keep writing plays.”
I didn’t know how to deal with that honesty, so I took it as an attack. Clenching my teeth I left his office and bitched for hours in my head. How dare he pigeonhole me? How dare he know what I can and can’t do? Fuck that guy. I got so offended I forgot to listen to what he was telling me: All those hours in class for an entire semester, and I never showed him what I could do. He could see I was a talented guy. In class he would compliment my performances and my directing instincts, but I was always unprepared, half-assing my assignments, jumping from one distraction to the next. In that office, he wasn’t limiting my prospects or pigeonholing me: He was daring me to do better. To take it to the next level. He saw talent without discipline.
I have never developed my discipline because I relied so heavily on my talent that I didn’t develop the other half of the equation. In the end, it’s hard to be incomplete.
I am playing catch-up. And it’s a beautiful thing.
It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.
Zig Ziglar
Happy New Year folks!
On this go round, we discuss The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris. An insanely savage book about Joseph lister and the quest to change Victorian medicine. Brought to you by Maddie!
We thought we’d share some thoughts on our favorite Christmas Movies of days past as well as some Christmas favorites from this year. Recent titles include Noelle, The Christmas Chronicles, and old favorites such as Home Alone, The Santa Clause, and more!
Of course, this being an inbetween episode, we’d like to share some of our own New Year Resolutions, as well as to say THANK YOU, to all of you who’ve taken time to listen and support this fun project of ours.
Much love to you all and happy 2020!!!
Back after a hiatus, here’s a few interesting links this year:
A great write up of the state of our artistic economy in Wyoming. It’s incredible how resilient and resourceful the creative community is in our state. I am awed by the talent in Wyoming and inspired by their determination and spirit!
A bit of insight about Herman Melville’s later years as a poet. I had no idea!
This is a great throwback read on one of my favorite performances of all time. The great Vincent D’Onofrio’s timeless role in Men In Black. He absolutely destroys that part in the Eggar suit!
Hope you are all having a marvelous 2020! Make art, make haste!
j
