On Language

Language has always been the academic subjects that causes me the most difficulty. I used to simply accept that I just wasn’t wired for that. I now feel this was cowardice on my part.

I believe this cowardice to run fairly deeply. Due to my fear, I often find my writing seeks to be defensible rather than honest/

I tend to think in quotes and anecdotes to illustrate my point, so here’s one: I asked an actor friend about his craft. He explained that acting was incredibly simple. It was to live truthfully. If you are portraying a lion in a play, then for the duration of that play, you are a lion.

I believe a lot of my struggles with writing, and honestly with life as a whole stem from my inability to just be a lion.

Reading through my writing, I feel above all else that my constant need to be defensible holds me back. Every point being over-clarified to the point of losing its soul has prevented me from being able to speak genuinely about anything.

All of this leads me to a simple resolution: For the purposes of these posts, the goal will be above all else to live authentically and free of the impulse to preemptively defend my writing.