happy birthday to me.
this person should inspire me but instead just depresses me. why do i bother? i should just let her do it better, since she will anyway.
http://membrana.us/
in reality, i know that i am not doing the same things, but in practice, the conceptual overlap is pretty much complete. shes carrying out work that i cave flirted with, thinking and looking at the same things. and shes going to MIT. so whos going to win?
i guess ill just give up now and start my writing career.
in the meantime, jean and i are going to make a zine of exiled midwesterners. like me and this chick, jean and i have led somewhat parallel lives, but unlike this chick we are from the forgotten middle (jean is from cleveland). we were discussing the innate sense of humbleness, if not mediocrity, that seems to characterize most midwestern artists. none of us went to high school with the children of famous people, the shows on teevee are not about the city where we live (or if they are, they make us look backwards and culturally bereft, fit only to be the butt of comic stylings about our boring lives), and ultimately, were just happy to get out at all.
our coastal counterparts, raised in the sure knowledge that they were worth it, manifest a blithe ego that can take on the world because the world has heard of california and new york. they always knew they would leave and that would not preclude coming back. there is no need to choose between family/childhood/back home and career/future. they are not the only ones they know with ambition, its in the water.
this is the perception we have of them, the others, the coastal kids. whether or not it is entirely true, i think it is true enough to affect us. who you know does make a difference. how many profiles of influential people at some point mention that their other successful/influential collaborators are people they happened to grow up with or go to school with? its just easier when those around you share that ambition (and socio-economic stature). we look at this and think, how can we compete? do i have to move to LA or NYC and shmooze? nice as they are, i dont think i really want to live in those places.
its not that we dont love the midwest, thats the problem, we do. maybe those who really hate it are the ones who go big. they are out there, of course. but those of us who just wanted something more, but never knew what, and yet simultaneously never really believed we merited anything more, because we're just dumb country fucks... well, here we are. drowning in mediocrity. victims of our inferiority complex. we all know the difference between a girl from iowa and a girl from california.
in other words, the midwest has a lot in common with canada, but with even less sense of cultural identity to bolster us.
so, we want to compile some role models, peers. the people we wish had all been in our high school, so when we go home for the holidays and talk about what were doing, the conversation will consist of more than, well, my youngest is almost 2 now....
http://membrana.us/
in reality, i know that i am not doing the same things, but in practice, the conceptual overlap is pretty much complete. shes carrying out work that i cave flirted with, thinking and looking at the same things. and shes going to MIT. so whos going to win?
i guess ill just give up now and start my writing career.
in the meantime, jean and i are going to make a zine of exiled midwesterners. like me and this chick, jean and i have led somewhat parallel lives, but unlike this chick we are from the forgotten middle (jean is from cleveland). we were discussing the innate sense of humbleness, if not mediocrity, that seems to characterize most midwestern artists. none of us went to high school with the children of famous people, the shows on teevee are not about the city where we live (or if they are, they make us look backwards and culturally bereft, fit only to be the butt of comic stylings about our boring lives), and ultimately, were just happy to get out at all.
our coastal counterparts, raised in the sure knowledge that they were worth it, manifest a blithe ego that can take on the world because the world has heard of california and new york. they always knew they would leave and that would not preclude coming back. there is no need to choose between family/childhood/back home and career/future. they are not the only ones they know with ambition, its in the water.
this is the perception we have of them, the others, the coastal kids. whether or not it is entirely true, i think it is true enough to affect us. who you know does make a difference. how many profiles of influential people at some point mention that their other successful/influential collaborators are people they happened to grow up with or go to school with? its just easier when those around you share that ambition (and socio-economic stature). we look at this and think, how can we compete? do i have to move to LA or NYC and shmooze? nice as they are, i dont think i really want to live in those places.
its not that we dont love the midwest, thats the problem, we do. maybe those who really hate it are the ones who go big. they are out there, of course. but those of us who just wanted something more, but never knew what, and yet simultaneously never really believed we merited anything more, because we're just dumb country fucks... well, here we are. drowning in mediocrity. victims of our inferiority complex. we all know the difference between a girl from iowa and a girl from california.
in other words, the midwest has a lot in common with canada, but with even less sense of cultural identity to bolster us.
so, we want to compile some role models, peers. the people we wish had all been in our high school, so when we go home for the holidays and talk about what were doing, the conversation will consist of more than, well, my youngest is almost 2 now....