When you begin to share, really share and mix and blend and mash it all up, you begin to loose the thread. It becomes difficult to remember how everything is connected. Who owns what? Who created which piece of the tapestry becomes less and less important. It is at this moment, knee deep in creation, when you look around and find yourself immersed in an unnameable magic. I have been riding a wave of unprecedented creativity since the beginning of the year. Here is what some of it looks like.
A few weeks ago, I created this mash-up and wrote this post about it. The post created one of my favorite exchanges in the comment sections about art and life and openness. A few days later, Keri Lee Beasley shared this amazing Ted Talk with me by Brene Brown I encourage you to watch it in it’s entirety:
I was so moved by her message that I had to give it life in my new favorite medium- the mash-up. This time I used music from Noise Professor. Who had created the music for another project of mine- a musical, photography/poetry thing I am doing with Zach Chase.
I hope to write more on her talk and ideas later, as I see her research as validation for my entire philosophy, but for now, I will let her words and the music sum it up.
Sometimes it’s the simplest stories that have the most meaningful impact. I outlined the fledging collaborative project that has begun with some SLA students in Zach Chase’s class in Philadelphia in the letter I wrote them. A look at the comments could prove useful for context of this post. As promised, I have taken the nuggets of poetry from their comments on my Flickr Set and set them to song.
Here you go SLA, my song to you. What will you do with it? Download it. Remix it. Add your voice to it. Set it to images. Create a video. Rap it. This version is only a draft and is not even close to being “done.” Tear it up!
Looks like NoiseProfessor in California has added his take to the mix. Take a listen here.
The nature of art in the twenty first century is that it never ends and doesn’t belong to any one artist. We are in this together…your move!
stones
sometimes I wonder how many stones
there are in the world.
i found a light in your simple “Hello”
like the way grass dances in the breeze
Choosing between clashing vibrancies
she sings ohh how she sings
i can erase what i choose to forget
we fear the pen because it leaves a stain
like the lives of rocks and flower,
that tell the story of the world.
These are the years in which life is beautiful.
Each and every day a miracle.
A tiny person in a large world
filled with intrigue and wonder.
a warm orange flower rests against my skin
sweet serenity full and wide
I grab the spoon of your smile and dig
in these moments we forget ourselves
we breathe the ecstasy of golden silence
heaven has not been that far off after all
we just had to open our eyes
we just had to be open
These are the years in which life is beautiful.
Each and every day a miracle.
A tiny person in a large world
filled with intrigue and wonder.
I don’t watch television much anymore
but whenever I do I can feel it on my hands
the dusty residue
from carrying fistfuls of stones.
lonely I lay flat
Among dull gray stones
I want to go home
I want to go home
lonely I lay flat
Among dull gray stones
I want to go home
Last week, despite the fact that I am juggling way too many personal art projects right now, I decided to push the envelope a bit more. I asked people on Twitter and friends on Facebook to send me requests for songs to cover. I mentioned that I would try to do this once a week. I received about ten requests that spanned genres. There was everything from Notorious B.I.G to Nirvana. I need a better way of keeping track of requests, but this week I just chose one and ran with it.
I started this project because I feel that The Daily Shoot is forcing me to push my skills in photography and as a result I am looking at the world differently. I was hoping to have something similar to music. I don’t think I will be able to create anything fantastic, but it is in the process of attempting to create these covers that I hope to learn and push myself musically. I played it a bit safe this week, choosing to go with a genre and bad I know and love. I chose the song Of Course by Jane’s Addiction.
Singing and recording is not easy at my house. There are only selected times when I am alone or have the space to let it rip. I would have liked some more time to take a few cracks at it, but that is not the point. I simply want to stretch my musical chops and see if any of these covers lure anybody else to look at a song more closely for collaboration. With the addition of the #ds106 peeps anything is possible.
That chimpanzee by the way is my daughter asking to be picked up in the middle of my take. She was not being tortured. Well, unless you considering my screeching trying to hit some Perry Ferrel notes. Week one. All requests from last week will be removed and I am open to some new ideas…What would you like to hear?
Last week a friend sent me this link to a video of the late night breakdown by one of the pioneers of blogging Justin Hall. I had never heard of him, and still no little about his story. The clip has haunted me for a few days, as I have watched it several times, but it wasn’t until tonight that I heard my remix. Throughout this week, I have also been obsessed with the latest single form the new Iron and Wine album Kiss Each Other Clean. I had mentioned before that the song makes me feel like flying. I strummed it on the guitar today and felt very empowered, but back to tonight- I was listening to one and thinking about the other, cant remember which was which, when I realized that they mirror each other well. There is a sense of hope and desperation in both pieces of art, and I wanted to capture that juxtaposition. I felt a sudden sense of urgency to get this project done. I hope to re-do in a few days, with perhaps me singing the song instead of the recorded track, but will see how that turns out, or if I run out of energy.
It is this dialectical relationship and tension between hope and desperation I find so fascinating. This relationship is seen in everything we do: art, work, the web itself…
Whenever I speak with people about openness and sharing, I feel the need to preface my philosophy by saying, “Well not everyone will feel comfortable sharing as much as I do.” It is almost as if I am doing something wrong, and to be honest I am not sure if sharing my every thought on the Internet is the best idea. I too struggle with my own demons, and I am not so naive to think that I am impervious to a break down, much like this, at any time.
That’s the thing about all of this; we don’t really know where we are headed. Those who say they do, the experts, publish article after article presenting research to prove which ever side suits their argument best. Each of us needs to take inventory of our privacy and intimacy and weigh it against openness and community. Is what you consider to be private more or less valuable to you on the inside or on your sleeve? There is not right or wrong answer. All I know is that I have had some amazing experiences over the years by being open and having faith in the goodness of people and trusting in the power of creativity. I have written about the Heart of the Internet, Trust and Community,and Peaking Out From The Edges; I have spoken about Life as an Open Book; others have written about stalking me, or shared stories about my work at conferences. Even after all of this, the connections seem to be becoming more complex and sophisticated. After four years of living online, I am still surprised on an almost daily basis by the generosity of the human spirit and our need to be creative collectivity.
For every paranoid news story about the Internet that forces parents and teachers to cry privacy, I feel the need to populate the web with a story like this one- I recently discovered a great site called SoundCloud, which is a great portfolio for my music. I use the word portfolio, but my music is not anything that can be classified as professional, but it is mine and it makes me happy. Each song, like my photos, my films, my blog posts is an illustration of my journey. I am not concerned with value judgments like good or bad. Like I tell my students, learning is not about success or failure, it is about growth and change. Learning is at the heart of evolution. I suppose we could grow and learn and evolve in privacy and in isolation, but where is the fun in that. We could be scared or insecure to share any aspect of our creativity for fear of being judged, but I choose bravery instead.
Sorry. Back to the story, I have begun to upload my small catalog of recorded music. Why? Because experience has taught me that if you share yourself with honesty and passion and love, the universe will send back echoes and reflections that remind you that you are not a single lonely self, but a pixel in the larger picture of humanity. I don’t write too many original songs. I am not good at it, and I find it extremely difficult. I can take a decent photograph; I am getting better at turning a word or two, but when it comes to music- I am weighed down with doubt. I know what music does to my soul, and I know that my singing is awkward and insecure. I can hear the doubt and tension. I play with apprehension, which ironically is the opposite of what music should do.
Sorry. Back to the story, I upload music anyway. I guess in a way I want to set an example. If I ask my student to express themselves online, I cannot with a clear conscious not do the same. It takes a lot of guts to allow the world into your heart and by singing online, I am able to assuage my fear.
No words could express how amazing it feels when something that you put into the world so tenderly could sound like this:
and Leslie took it and made it her own. I am not sure what this means. I am not sure I know. I am not sure if I can articulate it. I am not sure you need it explained, but there is magic in what has happened here. There is beauty in these acts. There is love. There is community. This sharing and connection and creation brings me joy, and honestly that is all I have ever wanted. Please take these songs, the photos, the films, the text, the pieces of me and make them a part of you. We are echoes and refections posing as individuals.
Update: (This was written a few days after original post)
Of course this story didn’t end there. Once Keri Lee got wind of the project she added her own brand of loveliness.
