Salutations, my dear round pegs in square holes:
What is art, anyway?
Well…the 27-dancer in-the-bathtub Swan Lake is art, for sure. (Three minutes of your time, for a thrill of happiness that extends to your toes. Here’s the link to the YouTube video and many thanks to Jenna of OneLitPlace.com who sent it originally!
This week, I’ve been filling out grant applications to fund Pen Parentis but also to fund myself as an artist… And I have discovered it is increasingly weird to try to separate what I do for PP from what I do “in real life” as a writer. I’m not finding it easy to discover new sources of funding for my various endeavors.
Mostly it is because funders ask you to choose your category, and I do not perfectly fit into any cubbyholes, no matter how weird they are.
A friend and colleague wrote a glorious essay about the impossibility of a categorization system for humans for the Modern Love section of the New York Times. It’s worth a read. We seem to be heading into a decade where we yet again are going to be asked to do a lot of “hand-raising if” instead of trying to be as inclusive as possible, and then welcoming exceptions on an individual basis.
Things I did this week:
I wrote about a public art installation - it is the least academic art review you will read this week by someone who adores art. Read the short article here.
This is the most in-depth interview you may ever hear me do. Certainly it is the most comprehensive one I have done so far. And it was fun. (thanks, Steve!) Run time a little over an hour. The Sensitive Rebel Podcast.
I also went to Salt Lake City, which is why this didn’t get sent on Sunday. My nephew lives in a van and makes movies of his astonishing life. He just graduated magna cum laude from DePaul University with a film degree (did his entire senior year on the road!). Let me know if you work for a production company that’s hiring young people capable of doing this: (short film). Trigger warning: vertigo. Also trigger warning: balanced life alert.
Have a terrific Monday; work well, produce much, stop to think every once in a while.