Post a Secret

Post a Secret offers an interesting opportunity for anyone to do like the person at left did and take centre stage... so long as they do it anonymously.

The idea is that people from anywhere send postcards to the website's author revealing some secret that they haven't shared with anyone before. They are at times humourous, disturbing, inane, and insightful. A unique way of looking at the world - or rather - of reinterpreting the world through its own lense.

gifted artists?

What does it mean to be an artist - and why do so many people think it's outside of their realm of possibilities. For the first, I'm one of those who defines it very broadly - as someone who refuses to accept the status quo, both in their capacities and in the dominant world/social/individual view. Thus an artist is someone who is striving perpetually for something more, is someone who is reinterpreting their world, and is someone who shares that with those around them.

So, a painter paints, challenges self, confronts the world - and reinterprets it on canvas or wood or paper, and presents this work in some capacity. So, a dancer dances, challenges self, confronts the world - and reinterprets it in three dimensions of movement, and presents this work in some capacity. So, an author writes, challenges self, confronts the world - and reinterprets it in some linguisitic form, and presents this work in some capacity...

Note that never in these sweeping definitions has the topic of talent or of quality or of popularity snuck into the picture. What right would they have to be there? Who says you have to be a talented drawer to draw - certainly if you challenge yourself honestly enough and long enough you will reach a level of competency, and if you are interacting with the world you will reach a level of interpretive competency. Beyond that, who can judge? Certainly, some people come by particular competencies with more ease than others. Does that stop them from trying those things at which they are less 'gifted'? Should it? And if their passion falls out of alignment from their 'gifts', should they abandon it? Here's where I cringe.

Passion is more valuable than genetic predisposition, it has been shown, in olympic-level athleticism. Assuming that the arts are something apart (and I personally make no such assumption), why should they function differently in this capacity? I see no reason.