Sunday, March 30, 2008

(I'm no good at) self expression

so i'm terrible at really genuinely expressing what is going on in my head and in my heart. this has become more apparent to me today because I read this article about how our culture has become so cynical. I read it and it sounded more like a letter someone wrote to me describing how I am. Here's the issue: it just doesn't seem like I (and i'll lump our culture into this as well) really understand how and when to express what I am feeling. We are used to cheap, sappy sentimentality on the one side, and caustic cynicism on the other.

It would be a really constructive thing for me to try to understand better how to communicate what is really going on in my life. I have about 100 tangents I would like to go off on from here (like the "hi how are you?" syndrome and the i'm-too-self-conscious tangents) but I wont do that here.

The fact is this: we're so used to our emotions being exploited by music and movies and advertising that we get cynical about anything that comes our way. Then we can't seem to understand how to truly be a genuine person. Am I the only one frustrated with this about myself? hmm...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032800930.html?nav=rss_print/style

anyways, read this article.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

1. in response to your last post, i love those times when you realize how little you need. carrots (for some reason) always remind me of camping and therefore always remind me of how little i need.

2. self expression, to me, is an art form. if you practice it, you get better at it. if you have a self-defeatist mentality on the matter and don't try, then you'll never really be able to. so the best rememdy in my book is to keep trying (and failing) and wrestling with it and making art... maybe someday it'll be a masterpiece