art V. capitalism

We all must ask ourselves what it is we want to do with our time on this planet. Do you want to make something beautiful and true and unique to you? Or do you want to make something formulaic, trend-chasing, and interchangeable because “the market” is says the ROI might be better? You can choose to compete with books written by committee and... See more

the only way I can gain autonomy is to write from my incomplete point of view. Put like that, autonomy comes from trust in the self, in subjective vision. It’s a rejection that the answer lies in any narrative framework.

it is useful to remember that art and literature—and especially good art and good literature—have more or less always been of marginal interest to the general population.

I think a lot of people are dismissive of their best thoughts. They can’t put their observations on paper because they’ve already censored them in their mind.

Creativity is inherently anti-authoritarian. As in: to be successfully creative, you have to shed the part of yourself that desperately wants reassurance. It’s only then that you can escape cliche and escape paradigmatic thinking.

The poem was not so bad. I won’t publish it here. Or anywhere. Maybe I’ll be able to give it to my daughter when she is older. Maybe it will mean a lot to her. Maybe not. But it meant a lot to me.

I am not terribly optimistic about the state of the world. I do not think the people with power and wealth are working to improve our lives. In the realm... See more

The AI evangelists with NFT avatars who tweet about wanting to eliminate artists weren’t ever going to read your work. The people who only care about multimedia corporate franchise “universes” or who simply have interests other than reading weren’t going to either. So why bother worrying about what they do with their time? You don’t need to think... See more