Out in the world, you’ll have to find the inner motivation to search for new ideas on your own. To do that, I’ve had to cultivate a kind of mental playfulness.Īt school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. I’ve found that the only way I can keep writing every day, year after year, is to let my mind wander into new territories. If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood. My job is essentially to come up with 365 ideas a year. If I’ve learned one thing from being a cartoonist, it’s how important playing is to creativity and happiness. And with all due respect to John Stuart Mill, maybe utilitarianism is overrated. It’s surprising how hard we’ll work when the work is done just for ourselves. White ( “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”), and Tchaikovsky ( “A self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood.”), Watterson speaks to the importance of work ethic and grit - but, like Freud, he places playfulness at the epicenter of creativity: Like Chuck Close ( “Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work.”), Isabel Allende ( “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.”), E. And I think the reason I keep having the dream is because its central image is a metaphor for a good part of life: that is, not knowing where you’re going or what you’re doing. I suppose it should be no surprise that your brains will probably burp up Kenyon for a long time. I head back to Middle Path, racking my brains and asking myself, “How many more years until I graduate? …Wait, didn’t I graduate already? How old AM I?” Then I wake up.Įxperience is food for the brain. I get more flustered and annoyed by the minute. I’m certain that everyone I know has written me a letter, but I can’t get them. Suddenly it occurs to me that I don’t have my schedule memorized, and I’m not sure which classes I’m taking, or where exactly I’m supposed to be going.Īs I walk up the steps to the postoffice, I realize I don’t have my box key, and in fact, I can’t remember what my box number is. In it, I’m walking to the post office on the way to my first class at the start of the school year. Watterson begins the speech by articulating the same sentiment at the heart of the most unforgettable commencement addresses: the notion that not-knowing is not only a part of the journey, but an integral part: On May 20, 1990, Bill Watterson, creator of the beloved Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, took the podium at Kenyon College - the same stage David Foster Wallace would occupy 15 years later to deliver his memorable commencement address - and gave the graduating class a gift of equally remarkable insight and impact, which remains among the greatest commencement addresses of all time. ‘Tis the season for glorious life advice dispensed by cap-and-gown-clad elders to cap-and-gown-clad youngsters, emanating a halo effect of timeless wisdom the rest of us can absorb any day, at any stage of life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |