June was for Blogging

Just as an experiment in putting words out into the universe, during June I blogged every day.  That’s 30 straight days, at least 400 words, most often more like 800.  That’s between 12,000 and 24,000 words, the equivalent of a small (very small) book. June was remembering how different we all are, the war that making art will always be, and looking around at a few folks doing the work everyday.   There’s a strangeness in what artists do, and that strangeness can be prophetic and irreverent or priestly and noble.   I ruminated on fatherhood, on the process of knowing how we know, and the conversation that’s happening about racial reconciliation.  There’s a fair amount, as is usual with me, about the spirituality of art making, including a prayer, a Pentecost meditation, and the need for passion and virtue in our making.  And I wrestled with my own project, a play called Lost Cause, all the while hoping to emerge from “the belly of the beast” without the title becoming prophetic.

Some of you came to read (thank  you!) and occasionally something landed in a way that caused a comment or two, which is enormously meaningful.  Some days there’s not much conversation except between myself and these characters of mine, most of whom are fun to talk to–even fascinating.  But truth is, at least for now, they’re mostly angry and combative, and so go my days.   So the notes you readers send my way are helpful and encouraging, just so you know.   I do not take them for granted.

July is going to be for blogging too.  Everyday I’m going to sit down and put words out there, and see if anybody resonates.   Someday I’ll come up with a schedule and a plan (Spiritual Mondays, Theatre Tuesdays, Poetry Wednesdays, Internet Surfing Thursdays…that sort of things) but for the moment, I’m just going to keep the stream of consciousness going.   Who knows what crazy things will come.

If you’ve got something you’d love to have an online conversation about here, pitch it to me, and maybe we’ll throw things back and forth for few days.   And if something strikes you that someone else might find helpful, please feel free to send it on.

A couple of things from yesterday.   Here’s a question:  why in the world is there SO MUCH CREATIVITY in visual art?  I was roaming around high-end artist community websites yesterday.  Check out DEPTHCORE, BEHANCE, CONCEPTART.ORG, MYARTSPACE.  Wow.  I have major artist envy big-time today.    What a fascinating world we live in…

Thank God…