One of my professors recently said to me, "When you write, be prepared to change lives." This is also the same professor that began my freshman year lectures, four lightening fast years ago with, "Your opinion doesn't matter, no one cares."
This professor expressed a deep concern for my generations lack of ability to see and comprehend the world around us, namely in visual terms.
We have learned how to succeed in testable terms causing us to forget to look with our own eyes. We are taught to the test, to the logical and verifiable ways of learning so that our teachers and schools reward from it. We have this need to achieve the reward
So, are we really able to see and understand what's around us?
I was then forced to think about these questions: How to quantify creative ability? How do you know if people are doing their absolute best or taking risks? How am I to balance being young and inexperienced with being confident in what I have to offer? Where will my generation fail? Where will we succeed? Why do I really feel the urge to write? It is because I can or because I need to express myself? Is the need to express ourselves so pertinent to my age group that we fail to be practical?
Does anyone have any A's to my Q's?
Now, my writing is pretty limited to occasional letters & in my blogging.
ReplyDeleteBut, before I met my Husband my focus was writing about romance- via short stories.
I've tried to write similarly since but can't. So, I've come to the conclusion that I was writing about what I wished for & hoped for. But now that I have it- I don't need to express that as much in my writing :)
Love,
Manda from Eat Cake
You always ask the best questions. Or maybe you just always ask the questions I want answers to as well. Maybe I am simply affirming your writing because it is a reflection of my own thoughts and that is why I am calling it "good"? I hope that is not my reason, because it would be so typically narcissistically generation Y. Our generation grew up in a world where pop culture, the media, and our favorite television shows were constantly telling us that our opinion IS unique, and therefore it matters. Our opinions matter, yes, but they are not so original as we think. And oftentimes, it is better to write what we know than what we think. That's a start to a discussion I wish we could have over coffee. Coming to DC anytime soon??
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These are good questions to ask, and perhaps if more people reflected on such things we'd have a better understanding of the world around us and ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI really like the question, "How am I to balance being young and inexperienced with being confident in what I have to offer?" and I don't have an answer particularly but this is something I ask myself a lot especially since it's only a few months until I'm pushed out into the real working world. It's a difficult things to balance but I think that even though being young usually makes you less experienced, it also means that we have the drive and motivation to better ourselves. All the while, we should keep an open mind to new ideas and perspectives. Of course, sometimes this is a lot easier said than done.
Just last night I was writing in my journal that I started in middle school. The notebook is almost used up and it makes me so happy that I decided (many years ago) that I needed a place to express myself. It's the best outlet for emotions of any sort and I'm hoping to continue with a new notebook =D
Vanessa ~ Found & Kept
The only way I know to quantify creative ability is via honest self-criticism and self-reflection. That's not very helpful for when you want to present your creative ability to someone else (like a potential employer), but I don't think our culture has found a way to do this outwardly.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your question "Is the need to express ourselves so pertinent to my age group that we fail to be practical?"... I like this very much. It reminds me of the fact that my parents' generation seems to be so convinced that they DON'T have anything unique to contribute... that they are so less likely to want to create something unique and then share it with the world. Even if they are creative, I feel like previous generations are much less inclined to want to share that with others... and I connect this as well to why blogging has had such a "boom" in recent years.
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great questions, hannah. "how am i to balance being young and inexperienced with being confident in what i have to offer" - i often wonder the same thing. i don't have the A's to your Q's, but do hold on to that confidence when you find it. it's the key, i think, to gaining the experience you need to grow.
ReplyDeleteOh I love these posts of yours that always awaken some questions that were already inside me, but weren't "loud" enough. I'm always thinking whether this uniqueness we're supposed to have is a good or bad thing. Recently I read a book by Slovenian philosopher Renata Salecl and in it, she writes about the choice that we have in our current system. But unlike most of the authors, she's very critical of this choice - she says that this choice (the "be whoever you want to be" postulate) raises anxiety and panic in a person. And I do agree with her, but on the other hand - isn't it better to have the opportunity to choose, rather than be tied to a predetermined identity? Ok I think I went a bit astry on this topic, haha, it always happens to me when I read a post of yours because I start to think about all the aspects of it. :)
ReplyDeletethis really got me thinking. what a big idea.
ReplyDeleteno answers here just more questions because i suppose it really depends on what you define as understanding. you can see and know things, but they are merely perceptions of your own reality--- so does that count?
cool cool cool. would you mind if we used this as a journaling prompt on harley and jane?