We have some great blogs that teach us SEO, tags, back-links, Google encryption. I will never outgrow them because I believe in the science of all things. You have to learn the Rules, practice the proper form of a Lindy or a lay-up and unlock the mechanics, drill, know what accuracy means in your field. But machines are built for precision. And art is more than accuracy.
When my son and I run our eyes over the drum solo for the week, it reads a little at first like a foreign language—difficult because each one he masters earns him pieces that are incrementally more challenging. My goal isn’t for him just to play the notes right for his instructor in seven days. I want the piece under his skin, for him to hear and then answer what the composer is asking of him, translate it as he alone (not his classmates, mom, or dad) can with his hands. His whole body moves differently when he gets there. If he graduated to the next solo just for having learned to mimic the notes, he wouldn’t be making art—the point of the music. We don’t watch Josh Groban for his technique. He’s got that. We want to hear what he does with it. We want to be touched by beauty. It is not for the intelligence of the chords that we close our eyes to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with reverence. It is for the pathos and longing they resound.
So is art something you can learn? How about the art of blogging?
In his book Fresh Off the Boat, Eddie Huang remembers 7th grade football where he was a social runt desperate to fit in. Listen to what he says about the kid he was pitted against:
For the next three weeks, literally every day, Coach Rock named me player of the practice. I was an animal. Other people couldn’t compete. They were playing a game but I treated it like life and death. The zenith was about six weeks into the season. We always played simulated games on Wednesdays, Offense vs. Defense, and that day I was lined up against this new kid, Jason…He was at least five inches taller than me, with long arms, but he didn’t know how to use them.
Know what you’ve got and know how to use it.
What does this mean for me as a blogger?
Waitress: So what can I get for you today?
Yours Truly: I’ll take Combo Number 6. But hold the sugar and MSG. Very light on the sauce, please. Can I have some more greens? No, not broccoli. Nnnot bell pepper. More collard, if you have. And no ice in the water. Is your water filtered? Never mind, then.
Yes! You thought you liked me. Duped you. Just be glad you don’t own the shops I frequent. Or homeschool in my house. But wait. You read this blog. You do (actually…really?) want to hang out with me. See, the underside of my particular palate is the particular palate I blog with. This—my superhero ability to be a pain in the rear—is what I use in my favor as a blogger. I don’t do cafeteria food, and I figure that though you may be easy enough, you wouldn’t mind something better either. I order it for you just so before you sit down with me. It’s my exacting nature behind the topics and every word I choose and the goals I set that have built this blog. Some of you have a profound gift of encouragement that shines brilliantly in the comments. Now that will get you far in the blogging. Are you a social butterfly? Or is it your insight, storytelling, wit, sarcasm, passion, empathy, knowledge, creativity, or personality that you have going for you? Whatever it is, you make me so happy when you finish your plate.
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