Spilling My Words
It's been said that writers and artists cannot fail, that just becoming one is a success. Tell that to a starving artist denied a bank loan.
Speaking Out loud, Audaciously
Fuck it, I'm a flower
Growing taller every day
Getting greener by the hour
And I don't care what people say
For all the me's and the you's and the we's and the who's
And the all for one, one for all
People have the power
Fuck it, I'm a flower
—Crying Day Care Choir
It's been said that writers and artists cannot fail, that just becoming one is a success, and while I believe that's true to a certain extent, I fear the sentiment originated with an underwriter somewhere smugly justifying the denial of a bank loan to some anguished starving artist.
The truth is we are just like everyone else, trying to earn a living through the work we do. There are options for how to do that, but clambering over, through, under, around and whatever other actions are required of the old-fashioned apparatus of traditional publishing may alter the purpose of art, which is not only to provide for livelihoods, but to enrich all life.
Like a well hidden in the desert, it makes possible the sustenance of any who are fortunate enough to come across it. It's with the love and support of others that artists are able to excavate, turn, shape and cleave their way through all that damn sand and grit and occasional despair to furnish the well with the possibilities it provides. For living. For learning. Or for the greatest pursuit of all: pure, unsullied pleasure.
My goal with The Revelate (formerly Without Envy) is to provide first-hand, evidence-based, and scientific proof that it is possible to cut through the plethora of bad information on what we're taught about life and living and learn how to thrive as our fullest, most authentically audacious selves. It's also to entertain, to be transparent with my own experiences and empathetic to those of others, and at the risk of shocking someone else or being seen differently, help us all sort through the heaping piles of bullshit out there and better measure what matters in life.
If you find my writing here to be living up to those intentions or otherwise inspires you, too, to consider making big changes to your own life or enriches it in any way, please consider supporting it with a paid subscription. Your contribution will, in addition to keeping this newsletter free to all, grant you access to our monthly roundup, titled The Skinny, of everything Sicilian, especially those things specific to our experience of becoming an expat and moving here permanently. There are varying levels at which you can offer support, just choose which one suits you best as the benefits are all the same.
It is possible, as the song quoted above suggests, to grow tall and green and worry less about what people say, but it takes effort and it takes more sacrifice than we probably first imagine, but in the end...
If we're still here when all is said and done
Lets make it clear that boredom never won
And all these years we spent on having fun
Lets keep 'em near while aging in the sun
If you'd like to learn more about Crying Day Care Choir and hear the inspiration behind this post's title check out Spill My Words.
