Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Jon Stewart at UVM

I won't post everything here that I write for Blurt over at Seven Days, but I'm particularly proud of this one, only because I truly love Jon Stewart so much and am so happy that I got to see him the other night.

I kept v. detailed notes from the engagement, so if anyone's ever interested, let me know, and I'll pass them along.

My non-paying gig

That ironically is actually sort of in my area of expertise. I'm now an intern at Seven Days in Burlington. I've written a couple of blog posts for them, but mostly I'll be behind the scenes.

Monday, March 30, 2009

More from the sister

I know I've been quoting her a lot--she might as well be a co-author of the blog at this point--but this is something she said to me a few years ago, and it keeps popping up in my head lately:

Our conveniences aren't conveniences; they're fucking burdens and constraints. When did man sacrifice depth of consciousness for processed, pre-sliced cheese?

Monday, March 16, 2009

You're not a writer

Last night I was chatted up in a bar by some dude. Yes, I appreciate socializing, but this person was just lame. After he found out I majored in English, he started talking about characters and writing and how he'd like to write something someday. Two sentences later he also used the line, 'I'm a student of life.'

Do I even have to comment that this was a horrible conversation? Let me begin with the most important point: Wake up, people. Not everyone is a writer; not everyone can do it; it's not as easy as you think. Let it go, do what you are actually good at, and leave the writing to those who even have a modicum of understanding of the medium and who strive and sweat and laugh and cry over the art-form.

And a 'student of life'? Come on. What are you, a 60-year-old hippie? Who, by the way would have way more cause to used that hack cliche than a clueless 20-something. Gain some actual attributes and the proper adjectives to describe them. Not for me, or those who have to talk to you. For yourself, really.