Dear Readers,
Today I feel that I should make a blog post but I'm not sure what about. That really is quite a shame with all the things I could write about; Iron Man 3, the weather, mental health issues, politics, music etc. Instead I make this post rather selfishly for my own benefit and I expect no one else to get amusement from it because, like Sienfeld, this post is about nothing.
I think, in some strange twisted way, that that is actually what this post is about. A few years ago I would have been perfectly fine with something about nothing but looking back my only actual filler is about nothing. All my nothing has been terrible and their all things I can't believe that I have written. That may sound egotistical to many of you but take a moment and look at my other blogs. You will see a 365 challenge for writing. A 365 challenge that I completed when I was in high school. To top that off, most of the poems I wrote in that challenge I've effectively thrown out. That's right, I've written hundreds of poems and I've thrown out hundreds.
A few years ago, if some one told me they felt to restricted in their poetry style I would have been happy to tell them to do what ever they want. Now I tell them to change what they are doing entirely and learn a new format of poetry because making yourself be restricted in a way that allows for learning is the best way to feel unrestricted.
A few years ago, if I was writing a play I wouldn't put much (or any) thought into the visual proportion. I am currently writing a play based on "The Rock" by Harry Chapin- and while I am only half way through the first draft- and the opening stage directions are pretty explicit on how the lighting should be. Its pretty impressionistic and I am proud of that.
A few years ago, my research was looking up an article on Wikipedia. Today, I spend hours investigating a single issue and finding opinions from the community involved in that issue. Let us take an example, such as autism. For those who are not aware autism is a developmental disorder that is highly volatile in every way, shape and form during conversations. Why use autism you may ask? Good question reader I made up in my head; you see while doing research on the show Community I found a comparative essay about the character Abed on the former show and Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory and how the two characters engage in relation to autism. This piqued my interest and from doing more research I learned that Satashi Tajiri has Asperger's.
To those unaware of who Satoshi Tajiri is, he is the man who invented Pokemon. From there on out I have been attempting to research all the different opinions of people who have autism (or "autistic people" if you don't agree with people first. In my case I go by something that Edward Albee once said about how he is not a gay writer but rather a writer who is gay because one must transcend self) because I am convinced that in ten years time we will take away the microphone from groups and give it to individuals. From there we learn want the people want and not what we want. And of course there is a huge distinction: As such I want to urge my fellow artists reading this to hear the voices so that when the time comes we already know what we think and we can be ahead of the game. We can be a defining generation.
I don't think I'll put this up on Facebook (they only like me for my poetry),
Michael Hand
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