As both an artist and an openly transgender person, vulnerability is a big part of my everyday life. Living in a vulnerable way has a lot of drawbacks. So I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether the value really justifies the cost. It’s too late for me to slink back into the closet, but I sure could be less vocal and expressive. Everything I share is an opportunity to receive criticism...
Your story is an abstract representation of you in the world. It comes in many forms: reminiscences with friends, anecdotes shared about you when you’re not present, individual imaginations of what your life is like. Your story is the framework people build to understand you. It can be accurate, or completely off the wall. It can be flattering, or it can paint you as an awful person. Whether or...
Classical piano performance is bizarre. I was immersed in it as a kid, and got into a love-hate relationship with it. If my biased read was accurate, my teachers thought I was talented, but disrespectful. I sometimes overheard them chatting with my mom, thinking I was out of hearing range, about how irritating I had been in the most recent lesson. It always upset me. I never intended to be...
An artist is one of the strangest and most audacious things a human can be. I say this because I find myself in the odd situation of being an artist, whether I like it or not.