Megan Tackles Art and Artistry

1. Don't stay up until 3:15 working on a speech.
2. Don't fall asleep reading a book, it will fall on your roommate in the middle of the night.
3. Boots = blisters.
4. It's okay to be impulsive every once in a while.

Megan here and it's Wednesday. That means you get to listen to me for a bit.

As I'm sure Nicole mentioned, we had our Symposium a few weeks ago which surrounded the topic of "The Role of the Artist in Society" A ton of great speakers came and held amazing sessions and whatnot. As it happened, Melissa forced me into a strange situation in our Psychology class the next day. She raised my hand when our Prof asked if anyone considered themselves an artist. I was uncomfortable with this for two reasons:

1. I've never gone by the descriptor "Artist." Ever.
2. I now had to talk to the class and explain how I felt about an artist's obligation to society, especially focusing on optimism.

It made me think, so here we go...

First off, yes. I do believe it is an artist's job to be optimistic, especially if they intend to reach a mass audience. That isn't to say one cannot produce dark art (I myself am guilty), however the artist must acknowledge that whatever unfortunate circumstance they've encountered is not universal and must provide a glimmer of hope for their audience. Defining art for a second as any form of self-expression, it is my belief that inherent beauty exists in every form and instance of art. Yes, I am aware that beauty exists in death and other things not seen as conducive to what we think of as being optimistic, but I also believe that the majority of art exists to highlight and express the beauty of life, in contrast to death.

To recapitulate this idea, darkness is a part of art. It is a part of human existence, and one would be ill-advised to ignore that. However, art in itself is a form of optimism in that the artist cares enough to capture its image, whether through paint, ink, graphite, dance, song, or what have you. The artist itself must acknowledge that optimism is just as viable as a viewpoint as pessimism and must present this to their audience. As a species, I believe we are generally optimistic. I mean, imagine if Oogruck the caveman thought to himself, "Well, I am entirely incapable to bringing down a mammoth tomorrow. We're all doomed." NO! Long story short, yes, being optimistic is in the job description of an artist, if ever so slightly.

Now (on a less grandiose level of thinking) I'm going to speak as someone who creates art. I caution you, Reader, in how you approach someone's art, whether that be a professional, amateur, peer, etc. Art is self-expression, and thus is created through the lens of the artist and cannot always be taken as empirical fact. Yeah an artist uses art to represent real life, but it's only a representation and well... art. People create art for art's sake, and so I advise you to not take it too literally or seriously (within reason.)

Simply put, do not pass complete judgment on an artist based solely on their art. You can view every single Frida Kahlo painting and still not know her entirely, or listen to every single Michael Jackson song and still not have a complete picture of who he was as a man. An artist will be incredibly intimate with you, but they won't tell you everything. They leave their existence for that.

To drive my point home, I leave you with something from Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. When he was on MTV Storytellers, he alluded to the fact that fans always asked him why everything on his album was so sad all the time. He response contained something close to the following, "When I'm happy I go do happy things, I'll go hang out and just enjoy being happy. When I'm sad or something's on my mind, I'll sit and write a song about it." So yeah, I think a lot of artists are the same way. That is definitely not to say that there aren't artists out there cranking out nothing but optimism. Google Vladimir Kush, I love that guy.

Peace out, be well. Hugs.

-Megan

Living Among the Great

1. The symposium is never too fun at 8:30 in the morning.

2. Bring a coat to college, even if it is only the middle of September.

3. When you get a text saying, "My dorm was evacuated and firetrucks are coming" and then you hear sirens outside your window, something must have gone wrong.

4. I am living amongst 'the great'.

Woke up this morning at 7:15. Gross huh? I sat through some super interesting (and sometimes boring) sessions for the symposium. All-in-all it was a fantastic experience and I learned a ton. (I will be posting some interesting facts and quotations soon.)

I realized something: I am living among some of the greatest people ever. And this is true in two ways. One is these people are fantastic. Just fantastic. They make me laugh maybe a little too much to be productive, they make me do crazy, weird things, and they also make me learn. The people here are fantastic and absolutely can be considered 'one of the greats'.

But this also something else. Whenever I meet someone really cool (which seems to be occurring quite often lately) and I learn a bit more about them, I suddenly get the feeling that in 10/15/20 years I will be watching the news or reading the paper when I see their name for doing something amazing. I feel like I am living among future famous or world-changing people.

For example:

- A few months ago, I met an up-and-coming TV star, who also wants to be a political leader someday.

- I met an amazing poet who will definitely do something someday. Not to mention she has an amazing heart for the world, though she might not know it. (Maybe if I can convince her, she might let me post a poem or two on here). 

- I met a girl with such a bubbly personality who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. She isn't afraid to show her emotion in a world where emotions are often looked down upon. (Plus we are so alike it is very freaky.) I just know she will end up on my list of 'Oh I knew them when...'

These are just a few people I have met. I have a theory that every single dang person out there is able to change their world. Though I can't tell what is going to happen in the future, I just have a feeling I am among people who will change the world, even if that change is small. No change is a small change.

I truly am among the great. I am so dang happy because of it.

As for me and my 'greatness', I guess we will just have to see what comes my way.

Peace!

-Nicole

Being Human

1. Melissa and Megan are amazing blog writers.
2. It is amazing to get a text from someone when you didn't have to text them first.
3. Colum McCann is not only an amazing author, but a fantastic speaker.
4. Everyone has a story.

Today was the start of the symposium at my college, which means a ton of amazing speakers come. Tonight was Colum McCann who wrote Zoli, which the whole freshman class read. McCann was funny, personal, and had amazing insight on what it means to be an artist. I loved nearly every minute of it and tomorrow there will be plenty more speakers to come.

Afterward, I spent nearly 3 hours with a friend, simply talking. It was very different from conversations I have had in recent years. In high school, conversations tend to focus on not-so-stunning and in-depth topics. I am not saying college people are immensely better than high school people because in fact, they tend to be the same. But the fact I had an actually decent conversation (especially at night, because often I don't function well at night), was pretty much a miracle. Plus it was with someone I never really expected to be talking with.

It's pretty dang awesome to have a connection with someone and have that connection grow. My mom and I have always talked about having a 'connection' with someone right away when you meet them. For me, people are constantly popping in and out of my life, which has its ups and downs. For a connection to take root and grow deeper by each word, is something I stand in awe of. Not just because it is happening to me, but because it can happen at all.

I also re-discovered the fact that everyone has a story. In our 3 hour conversation, we talked about how when people go to college, they think they will suddenly be someone totally different. This is possible, but if you want to make a very drastic change to who you are, it isn't so easy. Whenever you change a ton about yourself, you often loose a sense of who you truly are, not just what others see. And when one tries to change a ton, old frustrations, fears, and general emotions appear. Those suppressed emotions sometimes gets the best of them. And when emotions run high, stories spill out. And everyone else discovers, contrary to the person's beliefs, that they are not alone in their scars and fears. Everyone has a story and everyone is connected.

And that makes us human.

Well, I have an early morning session to get to. Hope you are enjoying my college journey and lessons. If not... oh well.

Peace!

-Nicole