“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.”
–Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society
Now, I would hardly call myself a Poet. I have written poetry, but that doesn’t make me a Poet. For one, I have very little chance of dying of TB any time soon, nor is my father obsessed with bees. I am not a disillusioned veteran of a world war, and there are no rumors that I am a vampire. I do shut myself into my room probably more often than I should, but I actually use commas– probably too much.
I am a writer though, and I have been a writer for longer than I have called myself that. And art has always come naturally to me, I can play a few instruments (mostly percussion), I draw, I paint, I sing. My obsession has always been in the creation and discovery of the new. So yes, I write– poetry, prose, music, etc. It is the natural extension of myself and my thoughts. But it is not a “want”, not really. It is something I love, and something I love doing, but it is something that comes not from a place of desire but a place of urgency. I can no more want to breathe than I want to write.
And I suppose that’s part of the problem I have with explaining why I “chose” to do this, which is what the prompt is really asking. I didn’t chose this, I was going to be a chemist. I was going to wear lab coats and wash test tubes. Not that science isn’t a path to creation and discovery (I’ll link to a post here where I talk about how art and science are really the same thing once I get the chance to write one), but it’s generally considered the far more sensible option. I’m still trying to be sensible, working on adding a Technical Writing major and applying for internships. But the creative impulse is far from sensible. It overwhelms and envelops– it’s kind of like the Force. And unlike most people, artists can’t turn it off. At least I can’t.
At Orientation, I was given some advice that I thought I was following– “Do what you’re good at, not what you’re passionate about.” I had thought I was lucky– I’m decent at science, and I am certainly passionate about it. And yet here I am. Because of changing majors, I was thrown into a crisis of identity that I am still trying to overcome. All I know now is that I am a writer, I always have been, and I don’t think I could be anything else.
video by melodysheep
04/22/2016
My Desert Island Soundtrack
valeriemclean1919 about me, Bayside, Billy Joel, Charles Bubeck, David Bowie, Denny Stokes, Desert Island Soundtrack, Disney, Elton John, Hillary Duff, Music, Puffy AmiYumi, The Phantom of the Opera About Me, About Music 3 Comments
Let’s talk about music.
The English language is interesting in the fact that I can say both “I did band in high school” and “In high school, I did band”, and yet find that the second statement is far more accurate. Not that band was the totality of my existence, I had school work and such courtesy of the IB program, but when I wasn’t doing school stuff, I was probably doing something music related. Usually involving one of the three bands I was in. Of course, I’ve also been playing piano outside of band since I was in Kindergarten, plus there was my involvement in my church’s music program. So music is a big part of my life.
I’m not sure where the idea of a desert island playlist comes from (there’s a British radio show that does something like it, but I’m not sure that’s where it started), but the basic concept is that you pick a few albums that you would take with you to a desert island if you had to live there for the rest of your life. Some go by songs, especially after the decline of the album in the past decade, but I’m a traditionalist so albums it is. These are ten albums that I would be able to listen to for the rest of my life.
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