Getting Blood from a Stone
Money!
Just that word alone is enough to get an emotional reaction from me, and, I'll bet, lots of other Americans too. Why just "Americans"? I think we in this country put more of an emphasis on it than in other parts of the world, although I am not enough of a world traveller to be certain of that theory.
For me, it is the source and symbol of the challenges I have with my career. While I work pretty hard, there is something that is eluding me in the way I command income. I work hard for $500 jobs, and that just isn't cutting it economically, not here in Marin County. If I was on my own, not only could I not survive here, the local government would probably ride me out of town tarred and feathered, on a rail, for lack of making the economic grade. This country loves winners (read: "wealthy") but has little place for those who don't earn that much.
Which leads us to artists. Poor artists. The ones who live in the leaky walk up apartments. The ones who are not appeciated until well after they've died, if at all. We all know the cliches, and even a cliche has its basis in some sort of truth. But, it's not true across the board.
So, I do better than most people who call themselves "artists". And, I don't do well enough. It's a strange conundrum I find myself in. Good paying work is hard for me to find, and when I do find it, it's less than satisfying artistically. I have been neglecting my better art to try and concentrate on generating income, so there is a strange level of disatisfaction going on here, which is probably attitudinal as much as factual.
I drove myself nuts waiting for a check in the mail last week, and the procdure is repeating itself this week. My first instinct is to cut back on anything that smacks of "luxury" - therapy, pay TV, food.....well, maybe not the TV.
I'm going to transcend all this. And, soon.
Just that word alone is enough to get an emotional reaction from me, and, I'll bet, lots of other Americans too. Why just "Americans"? I think we in this country put more of an emphasis on it than in other parts of the world, although I am not enough of a world traveller to be certain of that theory.
For me, it is the source and symbol of the challenges I have with my career. While I work pretty hard, there is something that is eluding me in the way I command income. I work hard for $500 jobs, and that just isn't cutting it economically, not here in Marin County. If I was on my own, not only could I not survive here, the local government would probably ride me out of town tarred and feathered, on a rail, for lack of making the economic grade. This country loves winners (read: "wealthy") but has little place for those who don't earn that much.
Which leads us to artists. Poor artists. The ones who live in the leaky walk up apartments. The ones who are not appeciated until well after they've died, if at all. We all know the cliches, and even a cliche has its basis in some sort of truth. But, it's not true across the board.
So, I do better than most people who call themselves "artists". And, I don't do well enough. It's a strange conundrum I find myself in. Good paying work is hard for me to find, and when I do find it, it's less than satisfying artistically. I have been neglecting my better art to try and concentrate on generating income, so there is a strange level of disatisfaction going on here, which is probably attitudinal as much as factual.
I drove myself nuts waiting for a check in the mail last week, and the procdure is repeating itself this week. My first instinct is to cut back on anything that smacks of "luxury" - therapy, pay TV, food.....well, maybe not the TV.
I'm going to transcend all this. And, soon.
posted by Rich Sigberman at
9:37 AM
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