Hey, are you hiding something under that bushel over there?

“...simply moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but world's champions.... A moderately gifted person has to keep his or her gifts all bottled up until, in a manner of speaking, he or she gets drunk at a wedding and tap-dances on the coffee table like Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. We have a name for him or her. We call him or her an "exhibitionist." How do we reward such an exhibitionist? We say to him or her the next morning, "Wow! Were you ever drunk last night!”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard

For Art's Sake!!

Remember that scene in Napolian Dynamite where Pedro gets so hot he decides he can't stand having hair anymore and shaves his head?  Well, the other day (no I didn't shave my head) I felt the same way, not so much hot but just a strong hatred of feeling hair on my head (I wanted to shave my head). 

Recounting this feels bizarre, I wonder has anyone else had that feeling?  It's kinda crazy, kinda weird - would my accountant husband ever have that experience?  I doubt it.  Any weirdness that I am I have always dealt with by telling myself "Don't worry Char, you're just one of those weird creative types." Even though I have no one significant creation to date that I can truly boast about I think I just kind of live creatively.  I make art for my wall, I love creating in my kitchen, I make up stories for my boys,  make up songs to sing to my Ruby - I create everyday.  In fact I view mothering as an art as well, certainly an act of creation. 

I was just reading the blog post of an aspiring writer who was writing out her cognitive process for coming to terms with the fact that she may never be a published writer.....yet she writes on.  I'm so glad she continues to write because I think it's so incredible to be able to live in a society affluent enough where there are some people who have the means and the time to work on something beautiful.  I love artists who often work lovingly on a craft that never gets recognition or compensation.  And even though I have someone coming over for lunch in 10 minutes and my hair is still wet from the shower and I still have some tidying up to do - even then I still choose to sit down and write out a blog post just because I wanted to.  (Perhaps I'll read my guest a poem instead of doing my hair and maybe she'll appreciate me just the same.)