Gov. Shutdown: Pretending It Doesn’t Affect Us
On day one of the federal government shutdown, any talk show host or news anchor who parroted the idea that the “shutdown won’t affect many people” lost credibility in reporting.
It’s not that the government shutdown will be felt by many of us, immediately. But you would never hear a news anchor or host say that type of statement about a natural disaster. That would be insensitive, and stupid.
When I was in the middle of my fall tour, the major flood in Colorado happened. I’ll admit, I didn’t feel it happen. I don’t live in Colorado. I wasn’t traveling to Colorado on tour. I don’t have friends or business contacts there. The family I know living in Colorado weren’t in the areas of flooding.
But it still affects my country, my economy, my friends and family who know people there, my thoughts…It affects me.
Yesterday, I didn’t feel the government shutdown, but my wife’s newly married cousin did. Ashley and her husband Mark planned on visiting national parks on their honeymoon, which started yesterday. The parks were closed. There goes their honeymoon plans.
They felt the government shutdown. And their story affects me. And I hope it affects you.
Let’s stop pretending this type of governing is acceptable.
Today, I ran across an article titled, “20 Great American Cities for Writers–That Aren’t NYC.” (Sure, the online article is click-bait, a list with photos, but it is still fun to read!)
And Ann Arbor made the list! Hooray!
Natalie’s making her living by being a full-time writer, a dream she’s had since she was in middle school. She also LOVES living in Ann Arbor.
This year, Natalie and I visited New York City for one of my gigs. We enjoyed our four day visit, but we agreed that our enjoyment of NYC as visitors only increased our love of where we call home; Ann Arbor just feels right for us.
The same feeling happened when I was on tour through Chicago and Nashville this month; and when Natalie and I honeymooned in Toronto last year.
This isn’t an account of one place being better than another; instead, this is an account of trusting emotions that say, “this is home.”
Ann Arbor has that quality for us. Here are a few reasons:
- While small, there is a music and writing scene, supported here.
- It’s close to our Michigan relatives.
- The large university brings bustle to the downtown.
- Ann Arbor is a college town that still features families and neighborhoods and professionals.
- Ann Arbor is known for it’s variety of unique restaurants.
- Three farmer’s markets a week, folks!
- It’s tree city! It’s beautiful here!
- It’s well located for traveling to other gigs in Metro Detroit, Lansing, even West Michigan.
- This is a town that loves to read, a town that houses Michigan Radio, a town with book stores and record stores and music stores…
- Michigan breweries! Local coffee roasters! Independent businesses!
- We can ride our bikes to many spots, or drive and park without fighting insane traffic.
- Here’s a big one: We can afford the rent of a house and writing studio for what we could afford an apartment in a larger city.
Nat and I couldn’t picture ourselves growing our careers and our lives together anywhere else.
It’s hard for one with a creative career to pick a home, but we don’t need to pick our homes because of an idea, a myth, or even a list of “best places to live.” Pick the place that feel right.
Natalie's editor emailed the edited copy of Nat's book while we were in Greenwich Village!
Les Paul’s First Guitar: People Hear with Their Eyes
Did you hear the Science Friday podcast about Les Paul this week? Incredible!
Science Friday discussed Les Paul’s invention of the electric guitar.
When Les Paul invented his first prototype of the electric guitar, it was a straight log, which didn’t resemble a guitar much. He debuted it at a gig, and no one payed attention.
So Les Paul revised his invention. He cut out pieces of an Epiphone acoustic and added wings to his “log.” He then debuted his revision at the same club.
People applauded, they were astounded, they asked questions after the band’s set!
Les Paul concluded that “people hear with their eyes.”
That statement should guide ever speaker, creator, artist, and musician during their projects.
Keep your audiences’ eyes in mind–even if it’s a lyric, a word, a chord, a sound that you want them to remember.
I don’t mean that we need to be Miley Cyrus twerking on stage to get noticed, but we do need to create a visual that supports the theme, the message, the artistic invention. When Les Paul made a new guitar, it still needed to resemble a guitar for his audience to “get it.”
We are moved by what we see, not only what we hear.
How often do you hear the advice, “You must stay positive to reach your goals!”?
Well, I’ll beat the dead horse: Staying positive is essential to success.
But I’d also like to admit that it’s difficult to stay positive, especially since we live in a troubled world.
I also must remind myself that the world has always been troubled. I assume it was difficult to stay positive during the Elizabethan era, a time that had survived the plague, brutal wars, famine… (Why else would Shakespeare have obsessed over the themes of death in his writing?)
Here’s where it’s different for the modern world to stay positive, maybe even more difficult:
The Elizabethan poets, writers and artists lived in a trouble world, but they didn’t have the continual negative messages and news stories circling their eyes and ears on radios, TVs, computers, and cellphones. Words didn’t travel quickly, and while the overall uneasiness of a dangerous world was always around them, the daily news of the world probably felt different. Distant.
Now, we are bombarded with small and large doses of negativity every day, maybe every minute, and often it a story that disempowers us: A story about an overwhelming crisis in another country; a story about our broken political system that is a snake eating its own tail; a story about high unemployment numbers; and higher costs of living; a fading middle class; another mass gun shooting; etc. etc etc….
So yes, it’s essential to stay positive about what you are doing; but also know you are not alone in facing the difficulty of staying positive. If it was so easy to stay optimistic, we wouldn’t have to be reminded so often.
So stay positive; and if it’s any comfort, know you are not alone in the struggle to do so.
I got to share a FaceTime call with Lois while I was on tour. That helped me stay positive during difficult days away from home!
