The Old Lady On Top of the House
I had trouble getting to sleep last night, and in my dream I saw an elderly lady who was not real. It was a costume, kind of like what the characters in Jackass used to wear for some of their skits. She was standing on the top of a house looking at me.
A game was being played in this moment. I knew she was in a costume, and she knew that I knew there was someone else underneath there. And she continued on smirking about the whole thing. Meanwhile, I was getting upset and frightened by this person. She proceeded to break into the house adding further commotion to this bizarre situation.
When I came to my senses I realized why that dream was so powerful. Because we often go about our days wearing a mask whether we like it or not. We don’t want anyone to know about the game we’re here to play.
Technology and the world of work helps us cover up the fact that we’re all just a bunch of silly primates. I can’t offer a prescription for removing the mask and not being the messed up old lady on top of the house staring at people, but I can do my best to show up every day and try to get the work done that I believe is my best contribution.
This week’s podcast looks at the “systems of creation”. There is a fine line here between staying on schedule with your art and turning it in a production line. As I write this statement I think about the ubiquitous glass blower Chihuly who has pretty much turned his craft into a franchise that a studio of people will make for him. He will be a functioning artist long after he’s dead at this point.
But this episode is about my methods, or more accurately lack of methods, for having some semblance of a schedule and system to get work done.
What is the Most Creative Work you can do today and every day?
Thank you for reading today’s newsletter. Making all this stuff for you helps give me a purpose. So for that I know that hitting send is an act of love.
Not exactly the same type of love between a couple, but the type of love that acknowledges how beautiful it is to be present with you on this planet. While our bodies might decay over time nothing can steal this moment away from us.
Look to the bagel, can’t you see it’s infinite?!
Elliott “McMuffins” Fienberg