Kidding aside, I've been quietly following the development or Rarely Certain, and I detect a change of pace underway, along with a lot of questions about self, voice and purpose. As ever, I find your journey resonates a lot. As you ask "is this what I want to be writing about?", I ask "is this what I want to be reading about?", and I get a sense that a lot of the underlying questions to those overarching ones are rooted in a similar journey. Not sure where I'm going here - just thought I'd share.
The best analogy I can think of, for how I want to write and read/learn is 'between the cracks'.
There are clearly delineated spaces that are already explored to death, whereas I'm seeking possible syntheses.
A great writer, for example, is Paul Kingsnorth. He is writing about his growing commitment to Christianity. I would not have sensed there was anything in that for me (as a non-religious sort) until I grasped that there is space 'between the cracks' where insights often lie.
I notice that one of the strongest forces in our culture comes from totalising principles. You are either (or somehow seen to be) with whatever team, or against it. I've noticed that this is bound up with anxieties around identity and validity. Shedding identity (and thereby any validation that an identity receives) seems to be liberating, if my inner state is anything to go by.
Insofar as I care about influencing anyone (greater than zero, though not by much) it's to encourage individuation from mimetic pressures.
I like your story of walking the streets looking for a story, any story, then stumbling on Bob's jaywalking crime. Not Pulitzer stuff, but it's a story!
Your story reminded me of working for the college newspaper my freshman year. The first day the editor was assigning "beats" to the new student reporters.
Everyone wanted to cover sports, the student council, and especially the fraternities and sororities.
Not me. Having a mechanic background, I asked to cover the "physical plant," which is what we call the machinery that keeps buildings heated, cooled and toilets flushing. Nobody wanted that beat, so I was the guy.
It turns out there wasn't much happening in the physical plant, so I wandered the halls looking for a story, reading bulletin boards and talking to people. Like you, I needed a story, any story.
The miles spent walking the halls led to one of my most popular stories. It came from a small bulletin board notice for a talk on underwater acoustics given by a mechanical engineering professor.
Intrigued, I attended the talk, and was surprised to learn that he was an expert on submarine propellor technology. His "quiet propellor" work had led to a Defense Department contract, and although he couldn't disclose everything it made for a compelling story.
My editor was impressed. I wrote the story which she improved immensely, and it was published on the front page. The phone rang off the desk the next day. The other student reporters were incredulous that I got such a scoop! What connections did I have? None really, I was just walking the halls.
Kidding aside, I've been quietly following the development or Rarely Certain, and I detect a change of pace underway, along with a lot of questions about self, voice and purpose. As ever, I find your journey resonates a lot. As you ask "is this what I want to be writing about?", I ask "is this what I want to be reading about?", and I get a sense that a lot of the underlying questions to those overarching ones are rooted in a similar journey. Not sure where I'm going here - just thought I'd share.
The best analogy I can think of, for how I want to write and read/learn is 'between the cracks'.
There are clearly delineated spaces that are already explored to death, whereas I'm seeking possible syntheses.
A great writer, for example, is Paul Kingsnorth. He is writing about his growing commitment to Christianity. I would not have sensed there was anything in that for me (as a non-religious sort) until I grasped that there is space 'between the cracks' where insights often lie.
I notice that one of the strongest forces in our culture comes from totalising principles. You are either (or somehow seen to be) with whatever team, or against it. I've noticed that this is bound up with anxieties around identity and validity. Shedding identity (and thereby any validation that an identity receives) seems to be liberating, if my inner state is anything to go by.
Insofar as I care about influencing anyone (greater than zero, though not by much) it's to encourage individuation from mimetic pressures.
That hair tho!
I'm thinking through excuses to share the ultimate hair shock, from 1981. That'll be a keeper
I like your story of walking the streets looking for a story, any story, then stumbling on Bob's jaywalking crime. Not Pulitzer stuff, but it's a story!
Your story reminded me of working for the college newspaper my freshman year. The first day the editor was assigning "beats" to the new student reporters.
Everyone wanted to cover sports, the student council, and especially the fraternities and sororities.
Not me. Having a mechanic background, I asked to cover the "physical plant," which is what we call the machinery that keeps buildings heated, cooled and toilets flushing. Nobody wanted that beat, so I was the guy.
It turns out there wasn't much happening in the physical plant, so I wandered the halls looking for a story, reading bulletin boards and talking to people. Like you, I needed a story, any story.
The miles spent walking the halls led to one of my most popular stories. It came from a small bulletin board notice for a talk on underwater acoustics given by a mechanical engineering professor.
Intrigued, I attended the talk, and was surprised to learn that he was an expert on submarine propellor technology. His "quiet propellor" work had led to a Defense Department contract, and although he couldn't disclose everything it made for a compelling story.
My editor was impressed. I wrote the story which she improved immensely, and it was published on the front page. The phone rang off the desk the next day. The other student reporters were incredulous that I got such a scoop! What connections did I have? None really, I was just walking the halls.
Fantastic story - that’s what it’s all about !!!