She ThinKs

predatorywaspobserver:

At times I find myself worrying about the future state of art, seeing the obsession over books that have nothing to do with literature, music that has nothing to do with songwriting, and films that have nothing to do with storytelling and everything to do with massive explosions and slim busty woman. I look back at other periods of history where art was thriving, where it managed to became the mainstream and influence the society and cultural of that decade. I cannot help to feel out of place here, wishing I were living in times that are not my own. But I realize that I am living now for a reason and I cannot allow myself to sit idle, to criticize the world that holds me without attempting anything to progress it forwards. Years ago I decided that I would dedicate myself to my writing, that I would pursue it till the day that I was on my death bed and spill all of my thoughts and observations and ideas into books. To write novels that challenge the way we think and stir something in the reader, something that makes them think and ask questions and puts our society and everything that it means to be human into focus. To write the kind of books that have influenced me throughout the years. Because it would be cowardly to criticize the majority of modern literature without attempting to revive it and bring it to the place it deserves to be. And it pains me each time I visit the book stores and the great literary masters’  selections are become fewer, only carrying one or two of their books while there are tables dedicated to vampires and politicians that are symbols of everything that is wrong with our society.

I have found that there are a select group of the youth that are dedicating themselves to their craft, to their given talent and pursuing it with full force. Musicians writing the music that comes out of their soul. Painters that create images that stick inside of the minds of the viewer. There is even someone on here that I have never met, but that wants to become a teacher, not one that has not a single care for her students, but one that wants to inspire them and teach them to fully use their abilities and their mind to progress our humanity forwards. The type of teacher that impacts you deeply, that you remember being a key ingredient in the realization to follow that dream you’ve had since you were little. The only thing I can do is hope and pray that these people continue to move forwards and create the art that will cause this society to evolve into something we can be proud of. There are too many obstacles in the way, too many people that do not understand what we are trying to accomplish and will tell us we are wasting our time, that anything to do with art is not a respectable career, that we will never make it and might as well give up now. I refuse to allow these thoughts to influence me before I am able to show others what I’ve been working on. I know deep down what I am passionate about and there is no other choice than to stick with it, to move forwards and trek along until the day comes, whether it takes two years or ten or twenty. I can only hope that others share this mindset and are able to push away the doubts and fears that float around in our minds attempting to convince us that we are nothing. In those moments of loneliness where we begin to doubt our work, we need to reach out towards others that are hands deep in their art to remind us that we are not alone in this and that all those fears are normal and worthless and universal.

I believe that a time will come in the future where the masses will have nothing left to turn to for truth and enlightenment, and that’s when the new movement of art will emerge. We are beginning to realize that we are not our money and materialism is dead. The government will not save us, mass media will not save us, consumerism will not save us. If you go back through the pages of history, you will notice that after every war and depression and crisis there is something that follows and that is a movement of art. Everything right now is brewing, all these young artists are preparing their work and discovering their style and the time will come, the time will come when the world will give us the opportunity to show them what we’ve been working on quietly in the corner while everyone else was telling us we will never accomplish anything with our words and instruments and cameras and paints and crafts and minds.

Wow that was beautiful and so eloquently said. Thank you.

Also, I think you can see a bit of this movement happening in the recent work that Dave Eggers has done, particularly in the way that he’s incorporated social justice themes and actions into the literary sphere and also in what he’s done in the literary field through McSweeneys, etc. Would you agree?