Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The murdering of our years
Hey-- all you whippersnappers out there, I was at that forum on Murdering at Housing Works before there was a Cool Observer or such a thing as an Expendable. Anyway, I’m sorry, I’d meant to post this yesterday, but I didn’t get around to it:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110090851.htm
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/14 at 07:47 AMI would love to break out on my own! But, like most people, I am afraid of failure. I have an idea of what I would like to do but I also have a wife and an 8 year old son, a mortgage, and plenty of other bills to pay. I’ll work where I am now till I can’t work anymore. I’m 38 years old so barring some accident that could be quite a long time.
I tell this to my younger friends and family members all the time and I’ll repeat it here: Stay out of debt. Stay away from credit cards, car loans, and all forms of debt. Debt robs you of more than just money. It steals your future. It keeps you stuck in a nowhere job. I learned this lesson too late in life and am trying to dig my way out. I may never get there. It’s scary knowing that an illness or an accident can send you and your family into the streets and I think about that every night when I go to sleep.
Find out what you want to do in life. Find out what gives you purpose and pursue it. Most importantly, live within your means. You’ll sleep much better at night.
The bad thing is that I did this to myself. I thought getting that car I wanted(but no longer have and am still paying for.)was all that mattered. Most everything I purchased with credit has either broke and been discarded or doesn’t mean anything to me anymore. I want my life back.
Debt has been the Murderer of my Years.
Posted by David Waddle on from Louisville KY 01/14 at 08:26 AMfret not for the youngsters David, I haven´t had a bank account this century.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 01/14 at 09:10 AMHi All… James, I am still catching up from last night. I was “procrastinating”. Thanks for the link.
David...#16 from last night, about trans-fats. To me, it is a bit like whether or not people should be required to wear seat belts, or whether guys on motor cycles should be required to wear helmets, what about car seats for infants. Should milk producers be allowed to label milk as BGH free. I believe that the purpose of trans-fats is similar to the purpose of thimerosal in vaccines, lengthening shelf life in order to increase the bottom lines of corporations. For too long the corporations have had the attitude of “the public be damned”. Trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, BGH, prion disease from the food supply, and so many other contaminants should be clearly labeled, if not banned all together. About seat belts etc, society is harmed when any one of us is injured, so maybe society has the right to require seat belts.
David #2...I spent my whole economic life doing things “the right way”. I followed all of the rules, worked 80 hours a week, never spent any money on fun or vacations, never even went to the movies for many years. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, I was stopped in a line of traffic, rear-ended by a gigantic dump truck...my back was broken, my car was totalled. My insurance company, which had accepted my premiums for 30 years, refused to pay because the accident was NOT my fault. The truck was owned and operated by the government. They refused to pay because they have millions of dollars to fight in a law suit. I have now been wiped out financially. Most people don’t know that health insurance companies do not pay hospital bills that are the result of an auto accident. This system/policy is justified with the arguement that whoever caused the accident should pay, but if the accident victim is out-moneyed by the other side in a legal battle....well, what can I say. The best laid plans of mice and men....
I have not yet read the front page, Mickey. Will do it shortly.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/14 at 09:16 AMWell um, regarding food, I found this website that details steps on making your own tofu. Unfortunately, it’s in Polish so I’m missing some of the finer points of it, like what the role of the cat is, and why it has to apparently be so cold in the kitchen:
http://www.kuchareczka.com/przepisy/tofu_i_mleko_sojowe
See you later…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/14 at 09:30 AMHi Owen...tell us more.
Mickey...good comments there on the front page. Buk sums it up nicely for me. Not a day goes by that I don’t resent the fact that I had to work just for money. I had a child to support and am glad that I did what I did. BUT,I think that maybe I could have made a contribution to society if I was “allowed” to do other types of work. I, like so many others, in the usa lived most of my life in survival mode. Creative mode is almost impossible for those without money. There is NO correlation between hard work/talent and acquired wealth. NONE! Some of the most talented people I know, have the least money. Scandinavian countries are way ahead of us. If I knew 40 years ago, what I know now, I would have found a less hostile country.
My captcha word is “run”. That’s what I would have done.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/14 at 09:38 AM"You have to have peace of mind to paint well and for that comfortable feeling you need to be able to pay the bills."
- Cecil YoungfoxThis was the first thing I thought of upon reading today’s post. Artists throughout the world are undervalued, as are so many people with talents that enrich humanity and life, who find themselves without a formal stamp of approval from some ‘official’ bureaucracy which might enable them to make vision reality.
Money’s the culprit every time.
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/14 at 09:48 AMFYI, a recent piece on debt. Previous weekend I came across a Payday style operation in an “inner city” strip mall which openly advertised itself as affiliated with the corporation with largest assets in the world, HSBC (neon sign of it’s well known logo, their pockets run $1.75 trillion deep).
Posted by sk on from 01/14 at 10:06 AMAny artist working for fame or fortune’s no artist to me.
Empress I cannot really agree with Cecil Youngfox. Comfortable artists don’t necessarily make better art, they can just engage in bigger-budget projects. The further I depart in the last few months from the hand-to-mouth economics I’ve been living the last few years, the more gear I can acquire, the more ambitious projects I can engage in, etc. But I cannot necessarily create anything “better” or say anything more eloquently.
Posted by Keir on from back in the hague 01/14 at 10:11 AMKeir I do see the point you’re making, and I largely agree.
I don’t think Cecil was implying better art comes of a comfortable artist, but to the notion of being able to make a living as an artist rather than the art being relagated to ‘hobby’ by virtue of necessity.Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 01/14 at 10:47 AMDamn has this place been rocking lately with ideas and excellent posts and comments...hasn’t it?
I’ve spent my life fighting schools, family, girlfriends and most of all work for a chance to someday grow into an artist of some sort or another. One good tool I’ve had throughout has been the ability to not give a flying #### whether I had a penny or a fat wad in my pocket. But, the ability to be that way flies out the window when you have a significant other, a family member and especially kids of your own...that’s for sure.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 01/14 at 11:04 AMHi James, Amelopsis, sk, JOS, and Keir...great discussion going on here. I will always remember something that my young sister said once, and she was only in her teens at the time. She said that if you have no money you can’t even appreciate a sunset. I thought that that was a profound statement coming from one so young. It is true. If you are cold and hungry, art and creativity do not seem so important. Van Gogh was plagued by poverty. He created a lot but I wonder if he could have created more if he had a little more money. See what you all did to me. Now I want to see “Lust for Life”.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/14 at 01:09 PMI feel like the starving, suffering artist angle is an illusion, creating seems to be just a kind of discipline you play with yourself instead of a struggle with outside forces. I´ve noticed that painters, musicians etc. who talk about the difficulty of working in environments hostile or indifferent to artists, their own art usually could stand to be worked on a little more to hone it. Basically if any music or writing etc. of mine wasn´t to come to anything, I´d feel better blaming myself than a police state.
p.s. Rosemarie, what can I say? banks never had any special resonation for me.
Posted by owen on from schmarcelona 01/14 at 01:53 PMI agree with Owen #13, or at least I’m trying to. I think it’s all about self-esteem, that as long as you’re not beating yourself up for your poverty, you’ll find a way to get writing/painting whatever else done in whatever spare time that you have. Anything else is just excuses. Maybe Van Gogh could have produced more paintings, but I think what could have made that happen most definitely is simply if he had lived longer, and I’m not sure if money would have helped that, but rather a more advanced mental health system at the time. Today’s isn’t the best, but it at least might have saved his life.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 01/14 at 02:42 PMHello Expendables...from a damp, drizzly Astoria. I agre with JOS. The comments board here has been amazing lately...and today may be the topper. David’s honest confession is both profound and heartbreaking. How sad it is for each of us to learn that the rules “they” pound into our head are ultimately farcical (at best) and destructive (at worst).
I feel a deep, deep solidarity with the folks who inhabit this little space with me. Thank you.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/14 at 04:14 PMYou’re the man, Mick. This place has been my online sanctuary for years now…
I don’t know why exactly, but for me...suffering through hardship has been my best inspiration. But it sure as hell doesn’t need to be that way.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 01/14 at 04:35 PMThanks, JOS. You certainly have seniority around here.
More from RMJ:
http://tinyurl.com/yd542r
(and captcha sez: letters)Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/14 at 05:38 PMJOS...you stole my line. I was going to say that for some reason today it felt solemn and almost church-like here, sort of a Saint Mickey’s on a Sunday morning.
David...you are not alone. I have been putting food and groceries on my credit card ever since the truck accident. It’s just a matter of time for me.
Thanks for linking to my latest, Mickey.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 01/14 at 06:54 PMGreat Letter RMJ. Thanks for letting me know I am not alone. I didn’t think I was but sometimes it seems that way. In America success is measured by how big your house is or how fancy your car is. I fell in that trap and hopefully I have realized it soon enough to get out of the hole I dug for myself. I hope there’s a light at the end of your tunnel.
Mickey # 15: Thanks and I also feel the same way. This is my first stop everyday.
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 01/14 at 07:31 PMBut .. I did not ignore ‘The Murdering of My Years’, Mickey. I actually bought it a while and have read large chunks. Excellent book - like all your books.
It is very warm again in Daylesford, and no rain in sight for at least 5 days. Today we expect about 90F and on Thursday temperatures might rise to the high 90’s. Too hot for me!
‘Hi’ to all you expendables: James, David Waddle, Owen, Rosemarie, Amelopsis, sk, JOS and David. Good to know there are people whose thoughts run in the same direction as one’s own.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/14 at 09:35 PMDavid Waddle #2: you are soo right regarding debt - we had quite a few of those until 2 years ago, but have now paid them off and have cut up our credit cards. Unfortunately one still needs some sort of credit card for ID purposes, so we have decided on a debit card which we can only use when we have put money of our own on.
And Rosemarie #4: my late father-in-law had a very similar experience with his insurance company about 20 years ago. They are all the same!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/14 at 09:49 PM
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