#296

Forget, for a second, your disbelief that someone could actually vote for Donald Trump or actually vote for Hillary Clinton, italicized for that sort of pent-up, election-year acidity, or bitterness. The other side is crazy! How could they vote for a candidate so obviously corrupt, vain, or dumb?! Folks are freaked out. I get it. The future is at stake, our children, our planet, the evils that threaten. This isn't mockery. Every four years it's intense, and it should be. It's always important. This year, the number of people firmly in the 'neither' camp feels unprecedented and scary – indicating they're both, indeed, very poor – but I think we'll survive. I recall when Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the popular vote. One of every five voters? Maybe the 'neither' or anti-establishment movement isn't new after all. And our founders were geniuses; Congress is as powerful as the President, in the event we need saving. We'll see who wins. We'll see what happens. If M 'n' m are passionate about politics, no sweat, but I'll impress upon them the usefulness of civility and a certain distance, when going there in conversation, if they value their likability and sanity. Sometimes, however, it's unavoidable. Even I have a spine, a stance, an immovable position on certain matters with political feel. Take, for instance, the following 'candidacy' that I support so absolutely that I'm incredulous, belittling, accusatory, and sarcastic when I encounter disagreement; I literally see zero sense in anything that sounds antithetical, and the slightest hint at the slightest agreement with the slightest position held by the other side sounds aggressively antithetical. What am talking about? Let me put it this way: Why the f*ck would anyone choose regular Oreos over Double Stuf? Seriously. WTF is wrong with people? Double Stufs are so much better. The originals are thin and weak and should be off the shelf, period.

I mentioned here that Megan still draws. This is good because I just learned – via science and documented research, although I've always suspected and felt this to be true – that when we draw our brains emit serotonin and oxytocin. When we make things, in general, we are given these wonderful chemicals; we give them to ourselves, technically, but describing them as gifts makes the most sense to me. They help us feel happy, creative, and capable. Bam. I want Megan to feel this way always. I'm no stranger to running low on good-chemicals. And that isn't a joke about drugs. Low seratonin is an interesting place to find yourself. You might be the luckiest, safest, most fortunate person in the world, and yet it's a battle to feel calm and secure. And so we draw, paint, build, write. Awesome. Let's do it. A lot about life makes sense when I reflect on this logical – and to me, essential, magical, simple – equation. If you want to feel better, create. Memories, experiences, relationships, skills, art, music, a career, a home, a life. But M 'n' m will also discover, as I have, that it's not easy. It takes work, energy, habit, ritual. As Pablo Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." And Jack London put it this way, "You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

"Writing is very difficult for me, it takes a lot of time and energy." — David Foster Wallace

"I think we're less divided than we think we are (in the human experience).... But my description of this room will differ from your description of this room, and everyone else's, because we are limited and graced by our own pair of eyes.... I think this is the beauty of creative work." — Jhumpa Lahiri