A wonderful post. I have only this to say... YOU ARE NOT ALONE .... oh, I have another thing to say..... I believe Swifts only land on the nest to feed their chicks, otherwise they are in flight their whole lives, they even sleep on the wing, imagine that!! I'd love to see your creative take on that ❤🙏
Thank you so much for sharing this. The things you speak of here, the wants that you express are all ripped directly from my soul. I hear what you are saying, I understand it and I live it as well. Do I have any answers to offer you? Not really I am still trying to figure out how to exist in this world as well. All I can say is just to trust what your heart and soul guide you to do and to know that you are not alone in these wants and there are others who feel the same as you do.
Thanks, David1 I think that the beauty of any art is that it allows us all to feel the full range of human emotions and to see that others feel the same way we do.
Thank you! I never want to come across as hopeless. I'm essentially an optimist, but I also feel the weight of the world on occasion and need to express that as well.
Thank you! I have one child in college and another getting ready to apply (plus two other ones in 7th and 9th grade) and the world is just changing so fast it's hard to know what advice to give sometimes.
As a Heron in my last life, I plucked a feather 🪶 let if fly where the wind willed wild and free like a bird should be untethered soaring high. It was tough to watch swallows return to Capistrano but a nest beckons, long as you remember where you came. But many years passed you can’t go home again and expect the same feather will be there waiting with open wings.
Yes, the nest can fall apart and some birds reuse. Others make new. Must be another story for you to ponder. Doves have a difficult time use sticks not woven and their eggs often fall unless in a potted plant.
Jason, I feel like you do —and your art is truly an opening into the world of seeing existence the way we should be seeing it. Intensely. I also find your colors uplifting even though the words may be sobering. Brilliant!
I also sometimes desire to ruin into the woods for a good long while and levee the world behind. Yet I desire people in it, and want to (healthily) needed. Prayer and art are the only true daily freedoms I often feel I have
Thanks, Todd! I don't think of my faith transition as a loss. I just shifted my beliefs upon receiving more data. I'm still a spiritual person, I just have a different focus than before, and definitely not proselytizing anything. There is much sacredness in the woods and in art.
Thanks! I'm thinking it read more dour than I intended. But I do think we all need to experience and express our full range of emotions, even the melancholy ones.
I feel all of this, or have. A little perspective, however, helps. I mean, talking about living in a hell scape, close to a billion people on this planet live at less than 1.90 a day, wood and dung their only source of energy. What they might give for a little post capitalist living. Hate to be a scold, but it was my first thought.
I feel like you took that one line out of the context of the whole piece with your first thought. I am certainly not looking for pity or saying my life is worse than anyone else's. I've seen a lot of the world, and understand that I am very privileged. In terms of perspective, human beings always feel our emotions with a degree of relativity. We are never fully privy to the circumstances and inner turmoil of another person's life.
I was feeling melancholy when I wrote this, something I feel from time to time, and use art to express that melancholy so that others won't feel so alone, and to help process those feelings myself. Your comment reads a little like I am not allowed to express those feel things because so many others face more dire circumstances. I can feel grateful, melancholy, overwhelmed, and optimistic all at the same time.
Why does working the job have to be so mind-numbing and deadly? It's as though we are cannon fodder to the warlords. Our leaders will never unchain us though they are tasked with"guarding freedom." The American Dream. The American Way of Life. What is that anyway? What does that even mean?
We live in the riches country in the history of the world, and yet millions are without housing and go hungry. Even in the middle classes, we have to sell our vitality to survive. Something does seem off-kilter.
True, however, people have been having a hard time making ends meet or buying houses or whatever. Even in these times of apparent affluence, there isn't a soul in this country, rich or poor who isn't owned by the banks or their employers. And the rules change mid-game to make our earlier plans to save for retirement null and void. It's not only happening now, but has been a matter of course all over the world, no matter what the economic or ruling system. There will and have always been a cadre of people pulling the strings for their benefit. So, you and I and all the rest of the artists at least have out creative work to keep us sane. A lot of people don't even have that. Count yourself lucky.
Jason. I think it goes without saying that your emotions and experience are perfectly valid as is your motivation for doing your art. And of course, pain is always relative to individual circumstance. Comparisons on that level are not fruitful. It could well be that a particular person living in absolute poverty is happier and more joyful about life than one who has everything yet suffers from severe depression, for example. Okay, maybe I should have framed my comment in more aesthetic terms, not personal, as you took it. I am sorry for that. So here’s how I would put it differently. Your use of ‘post capitalist hellscape’ took me straight out your subjective world and asked me the reader to agree with a particular description of reality. And I don’t happen to agree with that description. Maybe some do and they nod their heads, but regardless to me it departs from the exploration of mood that the rest of the essay captures so well. There are plenty of possible ‘hellscapes’ in anyone’s life no matter how privileged they are. It was the word ‘post-capitalist’ that triggered me, I guess. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, and I take that more as a debatable opinion than feeling. I hope the distinction is clear and that this helps, as an honest critique of the work, not the artist. Best to you.
My existence is not my walls.
Truth!
A wonderful post. I have only this to say... YOU ARE NOT ALONE .... oh, I have another thing to say..... I believe Swifts only land on the nest to feed their chicks, otherwise they are in flight their whole lives, they even sleep on the wing, imagine that!! I'd love to see your creative take on that ❤🙏
Thanks! I will have to do some looking into swifts!
Jason,
Thank you so much for sharing this. The things you speak of here, the wants that you express are all ripped directly from my soul. I hear what you are saying, I understand it and I live it as well. Do I have any answers to offer you? Not really I am still trying to figure out how to exist in this world as well. All I can say is just to trust what your heart and soul guide you to do and to know that you are not alone in these wants and there are others who feel the same as you do.
Be well.
David
Thanks, David1 I think that the beauty of any art is that it allows us all to feel the full range of human emotions and to see that others feel the same way we do.
It feels melancholy and taps into a malaise shared by many; I particularly liked the following line: "But every bird must land somewhere sometime."
Thank you! I never want to come across as hopeless. I'm essentially an optimist, but I also feel the weight of the world on occasion and need to express that as well.
Absolutely; that tension is worthwhile and perhaps unavoidable. It is beautifully showcased in your work.
Yes! That line spoke to me too, Mya. Jason, this was so moving to read — thank you for creating such a beautiful and thought-provoking piece 🙏
Thank you for reading!
Wow, you put into words so many of the things I feel. The parenting bit is spot on! Love this!
Thank you! I have one child in college and another getting ready to apply (plus two other ones in 7th and 9th grade) and the world is just changing so fast it's hard to know what advice to give sometimes.
As a Heron in my last life, I plucked a feather 🪶 let if fly where the wind willed wild and free like a bird should be untethered soaring high. It was tough to watch swallows return to Capistrano but a nest beckons, long as you remember where you came. But many years passed you can’t go home again and expect the same feather will be there waiting with open wings.
Beautifully put, Richard!
Yes, the nest can fall apart and some birds reuse. Others make new. Must be another story for you to ponder. Doves have a difficult time use sticks not woven and their eggs often fall unless in a potted plant.
If I were a bird more often, I might drown in blue sky eyes, love myself more deeply, singing from my soul. Oh to soar!!! Thanks for this post : )
Thank you!
Jason, I feel like you do —and your art is truly an opening into the world of seeing existence the way we should be seeing it. Intensely. I also find your colors uplifting even though the words may be sobering. Brilliant!
Thank you! I always want to give some sense of hope, because even at my darkest, I still find we live in a world of wonders!
I'm sorry you lost your faith :(
I also sometimes desire to ruin into the woods for a good long while and levee the world behind. Yet I desire people in it, and want to (healthily) needed. Prayer and art are the only true daily freedoms I often feel I have
Thanks, Todd! I don't think of my faith transition as a loss. I just shifted my beliefs upon receiving more data. I'm still a spiritual person, I just have a different focus than before, and definitely not proselytizing anything. There is much sacredness in the woods and in art.
This one relatable post my friend. Midlife crisis perfectly encapsulated.
Thanks! I'm thinking it read more dour than I intended. But I do think we all need to experience and express our full range of emotions, even the melancholy ones.
True indeed!
I feel all of this, or have. A little perspective, however, helps. I mean, talking about living in a hell scape, close to a billion people on this planet live at less than 1.90 a day, wood and dung their only source of energy. What they might give for a little post capitalist living. Hate to be a scold, but it was my first thought.
I feel like you took that one line out of the context of the whole piece with your first thought. I am certainly not looking for pity or saying my life is worse than anyone else's. I've seen a lot of the world, and understand that I am very privileged. In terms of perspective, human beings always feel our emotions with a degree of relativity. We are never fully privy to the circumstances and inner turmoil of another person's life.
I was feeling melancholy when I wrote this, something I feel from time to time, and use art to express that melancholy so that others won't feel so alone, and to help process those feelings myself. Your comment reads a little like I am not allowed to express those feel things because so many others face more dire circumstances. I can feel grateful, melancholy, overwhelmed, and optimistic all at the same time.
Why does working the job have to be so mind-numbing and deadly? It's as though we are cannon fodder to the warlords. Our leaders will never unchain us though they are tasked with"guarding freedom." The American Dream. The American Way of Life. What is that anyway? What does that even mean?
We live in the riches country in the history of the world, and yet millions are without housing and go hungry. Even in the middle classes, we have to sell our vitality to survive. Something does seem off-kilter.
True, however, people have been having a hard time making ends meet or buying houses or whatever. Even in these times of apparent affluence, there isn't a soul in this country, rich or poor who isn't owned by the banks or their employers. And the rules change mid-game to make our earlier plans to save for retirement null and void. It's not only happening now, but has been a matter of course all over the world, no matter what the economic or ruling system. There will and have always been a cadre of people pulling the strings for their benefit. So, you and I and all the rest of the artists at least have out creative work to keep us sane. A lot of people don't even have that. Count yourself lucky.
Jason. I think it goes without saying that your emotions and experience are perfectly valid as is your motivation for doing your art. And of course, pain is always relative to individual circumstance. Comparisons on that level are not fruitful. It could well be that a particular person living in absolute poverty is happier and more joyful about life than one who has everything yet suffers from severe depression, for example. Okay, maybe I should have framed my comment in more aesthetic terms, not personal, as you took it. I am sorry for that. So here’s how I would put it differently. Your use of ‘post capitalist hellscape’ took me straight out your subjective world and asked me the reader to agree with a particular description of reality. And I don’t happen to agree with that description. Maybe some do and they nod their heads, but regardless to me it departs from the exploration of mood that the rest of the essay captures so well. There are plenty of possible ‘hellscapes’ in anyone’s life no matter how privileged they are. It was the word ‘post-capitalist’ that triggered me, I guess. You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, and I take that more as a debatable opinion than feeling. I hope the distinction is clear and that this helps, as an honest critique of the work, not the artist. Best to you.
This reminds me of
Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row
(Aran is Pound, McBride is Eliot)
Leave it to Dylan for added perspective! But why is Aran Pound? Lots of unsavory associations there!
True, although he was very instrumental in Eliot’s development too!
And they were both great poets!
Ok, now off to find desolation row!
Beautiful sentiment, and you are definitely not alone. 💕
Thank you! I appreciate hearing that I'm not alone. Sometimes this all feels so solitary.
Whew. 💙 You make some lovely, peaceful art out of those feelings.
Thanks! I often wish there were more picture books for grown-ups. Stuff to help all of us with our big feelings.
Jason, you say it so well. This yearning and persuading really resonates.
Thank you. I always appreciate your encouragement and support for my work on the fringes.