Wreck What Came Before ...
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:28 am
Do we have to write and perform to the "Dead & Dying"
Has the flame of our passion gone out, or is it too slowly dying?
Or, are we content to sit back and wait till a story comes to us so we can put it into verse?
Are we, as 'Bush' poets, brave enough to push the borders?
I found this interesting, any comments, opinions?
John Waters Tells Young Artists to “Wreck What Came Before"
(John Waters giving his 2015 commencement speech at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD))
http://hyperallergic.com/214293/john-wa ... me-before/
Here are a couple of points from that speech .....
First, be an active citizen:
Remember, you must participate in the world you want to become a part of …. Keep up with what’s causing chaos in your own field. If you’re a visual artist go see the shows in the galleries that are frantically competing to find the one bad neighborhood left in Manhattan to open up in. Watch every movie that gets a negative review in the New York Times and figure out what they did wrong. Read, read, watch people on the street. Spy. Be nosy. Eavesdrop. And as you get older, you’ll need youth spies who will keep you abreast of new music that nobody your age has heard yet.
Be an insider, not an outsider:
These days everyone wants to be an outsider. Politically correct to a fault. That’s good. I hope you are working to end racism, sexism, agism, fat-ism — but is that enough? Isn’t being an outsider so 2014? …. Maybe it’s time to throw caution to the wind and really shake things up and reinvent yourself as a new version of your most dreaded enemy: the insider. Like I am! …. Think about it: I didn’t change. Society did. Who would’ve ever thought a top college like RISD would’ve invited a filthy elder to set an example to its students?
Listen to your enemies, and make them laugh:
Listen to your political enemies, especially the smart ones, and then figure out a way to make them laugh. Nobody likes a bore on a soapbox. Humor is always the best defense and weapon. If you can make an idiot laugh, they’ll at least pause and listen before they do something stupid, to you. Refuse to isolate yourself, separatism is for losers.
Has the flame of our passion gone out, or is it too slowly dying?
Or, are we content to sit back and wait till a story comes to us so we can put it into verse?
Are we, as 'Bush' poets, brave enough to push the borders?
I found this interesting, any comments, opinions?
John Waters Tells Young Artists to “Wreck What Came Before"
(John Waters giving his 2015 commencement speech at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD))
http://hyperallergic.com/214293/john-wa ... me-before/
Here are a couple of points from that speech .....
First, be an active citizen:
Remember, you must participate in the world you want to become a part of …. Keep up with what’s causing chaos in your own field. If you’re a visual artist go see the shows in the galleries that are frantically competing to find the one bad neighborhood left in Manhattan to open up in. Watch every movie that gets a negative review in the New York Times and figure out what they did wrong. Read, read, watch people on the street. Spy. Be nosy. Eavesdrop. And as you get older, you’ll need youth spies who will keep you abreast of new music that nobody your age has heard yet.
Be an insider, not an outsider:
These days everyone wants to be an outsider. Politically correct to a fault. That’s good. I hope you are working to end racism, sexism, agism, fat-ism — but is that enough? Isn’t being an outsider so 2014? …. Maybe it’s time to throw caution to the wind and really shake things up and reinvent yourself as a new version of your most dreaded enemy: the insider. Like I am! …. Think about it: I didn’t change. Society did. Who would’ve ever thought a top college like RISD would’ve invited a filthy elder to set an example to its students?
Listen to your enemies, and make them laugh:
Listen to your political enemies, especially the smart ones, and then figure out a way to make them laugh. Nobody likes a bore on a soapbox. Humor is always the best defense and weapon. If you can make an idiot laugh, they’ll at least pause and listen before they do something stupid, to you. Refuse to isolate yourself, separatism is for losers.