#tiredthinking

In English class I was assigned to read a couple William Faulkner novels. The one I remember most is Intruder in the Dust. I found if I read right after school or after doing something such as math homework, I could not get very far into the book. I felt as if I needed to edit and make corrections. Quite by accident, or incidentally I found that if I read at the crack of dawn or there-a-bouts I could read quickly and understand it. It just took me realizing I needed the right brain reading for me instead of the left: those moments of consciousness where my editor or so called fake muse tries to write over what my head really can hear. The same happens with writing. We want to use convention or expected standards so much that we can no longer write. For example, I might write the following as a comedy piece:

Take me out to the grassy quad

Take me out of my class

My teacher tells me peanuts and cracker jacks

I don’t care if I ever go back

Let me cheer and cheer for the home team

Because their losses are a shame

It’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out

With the old, slow brains

I have used the rhyme and cadence of the chorus of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” to say I am frustrated with a system. My tiny voice saying I’m sticking it to the man. I would love to compose pieces that changed the world. That made things different. That altered ugly conventional realities into idealistic things of beauty. People who are good should be encouraged to do better. Places that are beautiful should be preserved. Systems that work should continue. But tired thinking and ineffective methods need to be eradicated. We can’t put new clothes on an old Ken doll and say we’ve done a great job. Reform happens in the mind, then should move outwards to mingle with other thoughts. This creates exchange which leads to change. Teachers lecturing in classrooms with no feedback, administrators speaking from old rule books do not make the world a better place. Politicians saying “we need change” but have everything stay the same stunts the growth of nations.