Serendipity
I recently posted some images by Tim Carpenter, and in our email exchanges he mentioned that my work made him think of the stories of one of his favorite writers Alice Munro, who he said "can put a novel's worth of detail into a short story." I was very flattered by his words, especially because I'm an avid reader, and a lover of short stories in particular. I had to admit to him that in all of my reading I hadn't ever sat down with Munro, curiously enough, though from what I know her writing is akin to two of my favorite authors, Flannery O'Connor and John Cheever. The mention of her made me feel that there is going to be something in store that will have an impact on my image-making, though what that impact is of course I don't yet know.
Tim told me to take a look at "The Dance of the Happy Shades" so today I walked over to the library and stood in front of the Munro section, taking in the particular earthy smell that a roomful of books holds. "The Dance of the Happy Shades" collection wasn't on the shelf, but a large volume of Selected Stories was, which contained "The Dance," and as I perused the other titles in the volume, I saw "Chaddeleys and Flemings." A sweet moment that again seemed significant.
To tell the truth, lately I've been feeling a bit stuck--I've been procrastinating more than usual, and am generally unmotivated, sometimes with an undercurrent of unnamed anxiety over my procrastination--an often vicious circle. But what I love, and what always saves me, is these moments of synchronicity--the light of coincidence that breaks through my apathy, these creative gifts that get me motivated again. It may be time to step away from the computer, sit down with a book, and see what the words on the page can teach me about how to hold fast to the grace contained within the contradictions--that as always beauty and melancholy can exist in the same day, in the same space, and need not be mutually exclusive, and that the things I need will find me if I remain open to accepting them.
Tim told me to take a look at "The Dance of the Happy Shades" so today I walked over to the library and stood in front of the Munro section, taking in the particular earthy smell that a roomful of books holds. "The Dance of the Happy Shades" collection wasn't on the shelf, but a large volume of Selected Stories was, which contained "The Dance," and as I perused the other titles in the volume, I saw "Chaddeleys and Flemings." A sweet moment that again seemed significant.
To tell the truth, lately I've been feeling a bit stuck--I've been procrastinating more than usual, and am generally unmotivated, sometimes with an undercurrent of unnamed anxiety over my procrastination--an often vicious circle. But what I love, and what always saves me, is these moments of synchronicity--the light of coincidence that breaks through my apathy, these creative gifts that get me motivated again. It may be time to step away from the computer, sit down with a book, and see what the words on the page can teach me about how to hold fast to the grace contained within the contradictions--that as always beauty and melancholy can exist in the same day, in the same space, and need not be mutually exclusive, and that the things I need will find me if I remain open to accepting them.
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