“Boomer and post-boom parents with more money and autonomy than their predecessors has resulted in benignly self-indulgent children who were sold on their own uniqueness, place in the world and right to fulfillment in a way no previous generation has felt entitled to, and an increasingly entrepreneurial, self-driven creation myth based on personal branding, social networking and untethered lifestyle spending is now responsible for our identities.”
Pretty much.
Bruce - Growin Up, Live 07 Jul 1978 at The Roxy Theater, Los Angeles, CA
But anyway, my father always said “you know, you should be a lawyer. You know, you get, get a little something for yourself.” You know?
And my mother, you know, she used to say “no, no, no, no. He should be, he should be an author. He should write books. You know, you should… That’s a good life, you can get a little something for yourself.”
Well, what they didn’t understand was, was that I wanted everything.
And so you guys, one of you guys wanted a lawyer, and the other one wanted an author.
Well, tonight, youse are both just gonna have to settle for Rock ‘N’ Roll.
I’ve been attempting to collect my thoughts for a post about this song/story for six months now. I’ve deleted a dozen different paragraphs this hour.
When I die, I’m either going to look back and think of this song or of The River. I hope it’s this song.
“When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.”
Emil Zatopek
This came up in a convo today as my response to someone who said to me “I’m tired.”
Make a poster. Scrawl this on your wall or on a note in your wallet. Write it on the ceiling above your bed. Make it your mantra.
“I know what I want to do with my life … I want to sleep with many people— I want to live and hate to die—I will not teach, or get a master’s … I don’t intend to let my intellect dominate me, and the last thing I want to do is worship knowledge or people who have knowledge! … I intend to do everything … I shall anticipate pleasure everywhere and find it, too, for it is everywhere! I shall involve myself wholly … everything matters! … I am alive … I am beautiful … what else is there?”
