I recently received a notice that I’ve been running my Tumblr page, “The Beginning of Your Meaning, Friend,” for ten years. The original idea was for my Tumblr to function as an “artist’s playground,” a space to accumulate the raw materials that would inform my writing and artwork. Even the title of the blog, stolenContinue reading “opening the cabinet”
Category Archives: creativity
don’t dream it, be it…
For three years in college, I played Brad Majors in an annual production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The production, mounted in a seedy bar on the edge of campus, featured full-scale musical numbers and plays host to a slew of University of Dayton-specific callbacks, Easter eggs, and references. Contrary to what you mightContinue reading “don’t dream it, be it…”
steal around
In conversation with Brian Koppelman on The Moment, Paul Schrader talks about the elements he stole from a variety of films to make his 2018 film, First Reformed. “The secret of stealing is that you have to steal around,” Shrader says in reference to the various sources of his material. “You can’t go back toContinue reading “steal around”
you are enough
I suppose there’s an irony to the fact this is first on my list of “rules to live by,” as it’s something I’ve struggled with for much of my life. We could blame parental trauma. We could blame late-stage capitalism. We could blame debilitating insecurity, creative resistance, the desire to compete, unfaithful lovers, shitty friends–youContinue reading “you are enough”
rules to live by
When I was twenty-four, I started working at a theater company. In an attempt to remind myself of where I’d been and everything I’d learned along the way, I made a list of twenty “Rules to Live By,” and taped it up inside my locker at work. While some of these rules have aged wellContinue reading “rules to live by”
on being the portal
I’ve written about how the best art acts a portal, transporting us somewhere else entirely. Be it a story that takes us on a journey with its characters or a painting that swallows us whole, we engage with these works to get outside of ourselves. But what if we’re the portals? I’m revisiting Steven Pressfield’sContinue reading “on being the portal”
not trying hard enough
The last few days, I had this wild idea for an art piece that involved stenciling silhouettes, painted canvas, and melting crayons with a hairdryer. However, when I went to melt the crayons, the gust of heat from the hairdryer not only didn’t melt the wax, it detached the stencils from the canvas. Safe toContinue reading “not trying hard enough”
finding the medium
I’m currently working on a novel high school kids in revolt and a play about comic book writers building a universe–two different stories with different characters, engaging with completely different worlds. A friend asked this week, “how do you determine which stories are books, which ones are plays, and which one would be movies?” GreatContinue reading “finding the medium”
rearrange yourself
When I was a kid, I’d rearrange the furniture in my bedroom every summer. Sometimes, it was a simple as switching the placement of the dresser and the bookshelf. Other times, I’d slide the bed across the room, reorient the posters on the walls, and move the light fixtures from one corner of the roomContinue reading “rearrange yourself”
do what you’re doing
While I was in college, I had the opportunity to meet Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He told a story about how he got the job at SNL: he’d been writing jokes on his own, collecting them and refining them at open mic nights throughout Manhattan. One night, aContinue reading “do what you’re doing”
joshua chamberlain 