Liberal Farts
I had a good talk with my parents last night. My family has been going through kind of a yuck patch lately, so I've felt a little alienated, unwanted even. But they were all just so obviously happy to have me home that I can't help but feel like things are changing for the better.
I talked a lot with my parents about switching majors. I don't want to do art any more. I just can't do it. At least not in a painstaking studio setting. I don't want to spend the next year or two busting my ass to make things I don't care about in media I don't enjoy for people I don't respect. It's been making me miserable for a year now, with no tangible benefit.
So I told my parents that I'm thinking about a degree in economics. They laughed for a while, then they realized I was serious. They both advised against it. It turns out my mom has always had this second, secret degree in economics that she never told me about. She does not think it is a good idea for me.
I am so tired of art. I tried to explain this to my photography teacher before I dropped her class, but she didn't seem to get it.
"So why are you dropping the art program?"
I felt like I couldn't just tell her that all the studio artists I've ever met seem like a group of braindead monkeys masturbating on each other in a dank, stuffy cage somewhere, so I said:
"I just feel like it's not connecting me to anything. I want some kind of information that's active and relevant to the world, something that's useful and helpful so I can make some kind of real contribution."
"Oh, okay, so you want to change the world. Make a difference."
"Um... I guess so?"
"Don't we all."
Then she smirked. I have not felt so young and naive in such a long time.
Then she asked me what social issues I care about, and I said all of them. Then she asked what political or social activist artists I respect, and I realized none of them. I don't care what artists have to say because, let's be honest, how many of them have the actual knowledge or authority to say it?
I don't want to be one of those assholes who paints pictures of the American flag being flushed down toilets. But I also don't want to be a soulless marketing whore. Making comics would be nice, but it feels so frivolous. In any case, I don't think I would have ever had the drive or talent to do art professionally, so this is probably for the best. I guess now I am free to make things I want to make for the people around me to enjoy. I don't need a degree for that.
And I can nab another liberal arts degree and try to do something useful with it. I am thinking political science now. I'm also kind of interested in sociology, though my mom warns that it's an even bigger load of bullshit than economics. Durrrr, maybe women's studies? Right. I dunno.
It's a little scary.
I talked a lot with my parents about switching majors. I don't want to do art any more. I just can't do it. At least not in a painstaking studio setting. I don't want to spend the next year or two busting my ass to make things I don't care about in media I don't enjoy for people I don't respect. It's been making me miserable for a year now, with no tangible benefit.
So I told my parents that I'm thinking about a degree in economics. They laughed for a while, then they realized I was serious. They both advised against it. It turns out my mom has always had this second, secret degree in economics that she never told me about. She does not think it is a good idea for me.
I am so tired of art. I tried to explain this to my photography teacher before I dropped her class, but she didn't seem to get it.
"So why are you dropping the art program?"
I felt like I couldn't just tell her that all the studio artists I've ever met seem like a group of braindead monkeys masturbating on each other in a dank, stuffy cage somewhere, so I said:
"I just feel like it's not connecting me to anything. I want some kind of information that's active and relevant to the world, something that's useful and helpful so I can make some kind of real contribution."
"Oh, okay, so you want to change the world. Make a difference."
"Um... I guess so?"
"Don't we all."
Then she smirked. I have not felt so young and naive in such a long time.
Then she asked me what social issues I care about, and I said all of them. Then she asked what political or social activist artists I respect, and I realized none of them. I don't care what artists have to say because, let's be honest, how many of them have the actual knowledge or authority to say it?
I don't want to be one of those assholes who paints pictures of the American flag being flushed down toilets. But I also don't want to be a soulless marketing whore. Making comics would be nice, but it feels so frivolous. In any case, I don't think I would have ever had the drive or talent to do art professionally, so this is probably for the best. I guess now I am free to make things I want to make for the people around me to enjoy. I don't need a degree for that.
And I can nab another liberal arts degree and try to do something useful with it. I am thinking political science now. I'm also kind of interested in sociology, though my mom warns that it's an even bigger load of bullshit than economics. Durrrr, maybe women's studies? Right. I dunno.
It's a little scary.