“We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”—Kurt Vonnegut
One thing I’ve learned in my brief tenure as an artist: it’s the side projects that blow up.
By side projects I mean the stuff that you thought was just farting around. That’s actually the good stuff. That’s when the magic happens.
Four years ago I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I was a short story writer. I was trying to write stories. Then one day I took a Sharpie to a stack of newspapers. All the sudden I was a poet. Pretty soon a diversion—a side project—turned into my main thing (whether I wanted it to or not).
Had I been focused only on my goal of writing fiction, had I not allowed myself the room to experiment and take on a side project, I’d never be where I am now.
So the lesson is: take time for side projects. Take time to fart around.
This is exactly what I want my students to say, believe, do. Not as a side project, but in their learning to become better writers, thinkers, and readers. It’s a statement for me about humility and courage that is a pre-requisite to learning.
(I think they are pretty good at farting around already–even though I know you mean something else.)
Beautiful.
Laurence
Thanks, Laurence. I call it farting around after Vonnegut, but it’s really closer to what Don Barthelme called “not-knowing”.
Re: students, theres a big difference between “farting around” and “flatulence”!
:-D
If you ever put this one up for sale, let me know.