A friend of a good friend (but not someone I know well) has kept in touch with me via “email-log.”
Before I started this blog, I would send an “email letter” or “entry” to a mailing list, which was on bcc (blind carbon copy) basis. This would sometimes lead to “daemon-mailer” messages, in response, from messages that got lost in the electronic frontier. These are an annoyance of grand proportion when you are traveling by train through Europe. It was also cumbersome to send pictures at times, if I hadn’t been uploading diligently.
The blog is the replacement of that. It means that anyone can read the posts who has the link, or who knows what to look for.
This person was on my email-list when it existed. We’ve corresponded about the overlap between spirituality and the arts, specifically music. We don’t write to each other often, but I savor the letters when I get them. They are always beautifully written. He has gotten to know me, remotely, over a number of years, and as probably (as he thinks of it) as somewhat of a “wild woman.” There are bits of truth to that.
I would say that anyone in the arts these days must have a little “wild” in them. Why else would we want to listen to them?
Let’s define wild, especially as it applies to the arts.
1. (of an animal or plant) living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated.
2. uncontrolled or unrestrained, especially in pursuit of pleasure.
3. very enthusiastic or excited.
4. a wild card, or something that is unknown that, when introduced, changes the game.
If artists-creators-writers-musicians-actors-directors cannot tap into some or all of the above qualities, they aren’t worth spending any time on.
The remark that was relayed to me was,
“I don’t believe she got married.”
And my response was -
“Really?”
Does marriage diminish wildness? Is it such an institution that people can’t retain some original core of who they are? Or is the very decision to get married seen as a surrender to once-wild images? When Zheng and I announced our engagement, numerous remarks reached me such as, “I hope she doesn’t stop traveling!” or “I hope she doesn’t loose her ambition!”
My response to both of these is -
“Really?”
(To be continued ...)
PHOTO: From our wedding rehearsal! Zheng's mother had come from China to visit us and to attend our wedding. She designed and made the clothes that we are wearing.
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