Saturday, August 27, 2011

It's time to talk again.

It's an interesting thing...

I've been very quiet on this blog for a really long time. And yet I wouldn't necessarily say that it has been because I've been silent in my life. Social media is an interesting thing: it creates connection, but not closeness. Anyhow.

Things are shifting again. It's this phenomenon that Paulo Freire calls conscientization. More and more my worldview has been emerging, my own sense of values, my inner compass. And the more I look at the world, the more I see the same things emerging. And it's difficult to shake the sense of powerlessness that sometimes comes with being just one. The world's momentum is a forceful current, and I find that it's very easy to get caught up in it; to lose one's voice.

And so this is why I'm beginning to write again. I can't wait for the change I want to see around me anymore; I have to be the change. As an artist, I have always been a storyteller, I've always found stories to be the most accessible vehicles for learning and understanding. And I want to learn, I want to understand, I want to communicate.

Blah blah. But still.

I've told so many stories in my life, others' stories. It's my metier. It can be scary to slip into another person's skin, to adopt another's voice, but at the same time it can also be so exhilarating. Empathy is very risky and very rewarding. But what happens when the stories that you see and tell and hear are not your own? How long does it take until you lose your own voice?

I have no idea. I'm also not trying to find out.

In any case, I've begun to write again. There are so many projects that I want to explore, so many things I want to try. But I've been quiet for awhile. So my voice is rusty. But silence is not an option anymore. Not right now anyway.

You're welcome to listen if you like. But I'm not going to shut it down. Not anymore.

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