Waving from Across the Universe

Why do humans write? Why do humans seek connection? 

I've always asked myself those questions. As someone who DOES IN FACT love both of those things -- writing and community -- I've also been mystified by them. 

I'm something of an oxymoron. Or maybe just a pathetic loser. See, I love community. But I am so incredibly socially anxious that I just cannot reach out without feeling like I'm doing something horribly wrong and everyone hates me. Thanks for that, autism. But one thing I am incredibly good at is persevering.

Maybe that is what writing and community are all about. Persevering. Writers persevere even though it's hard. Even though they can't find the words to get the scene on page exactly how they see it. And communities persevere as well. Through death, catastrophes, people leaving -- the community perseveres. 

Persevering means love. Love for the written word. Love of sharing emotions and experiences and saying "Hey, I'm alive." 
And love for each other. 

I'm waving from across the universe to anyone who needs some community, some love, anyone who feels like they cannot persevere. 

I see you.

On poetry in music, and youth prodigy - a fan rambles about Ryan Ross

A bit of context before I start rambling -- my absolute favourite songwriter is Ryan Ross. He was the co-founder and main lyricist of the band Panic! at the Disco and wrote the lyrics for their first two albums, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out and Pretty. Odd. I highly suggest you give those two albums a listen -- they are incredible and so unique.

What makes their lyricism the most impressive, in my opinion, is that Ryan wrote them when he was only 17. He was living alone and was on the brink of being evicted from his flat. When I first listened to these albums I was blown away. The words Ryan wrote were like poetry -- more than poetry, they were ethereal. They have such a unique vibe to them; the first album is a cabaret-style burlesque radio broadcast, and the second album is a beautiful mash of Beatles-esque hippie tunes, spring and flower imagery and beautiful haunting orchestra melodies. Who writes albums like that?

More importantly, who will write more albums like that? The fact that they are so incredibly stunning is because they are so strange and unique. They broke boundaries and, almost two decades later, are still as strange and unique as when they first came out. And the lack of such amazingly strange albums certainly have been felt, and make the music world just that bit bleaker. 

Ryan stepped back from the band after Pretty. Odd., and started a different band -- The Young Veins. Here you can clearly hear the Beatles influence, as Ryan was an avid Beatles fan and took a lot of inspiration from them. But they do lack a certain zest, a certain artsy Joie de Vivre that the first two Panic! albums possessed. The lyrics were also a lot more simplistic. What The Young Veins does have that Panic! doesn't (and really should have had, if it weren't for a cold at the wrong moment) was Ryan singing -- he is an excellent vocalist. Ryan has such a beautiful, raw and warm singing voice that mixes perfectly with his lyrics. A dream of mine is that one day, Ryan will re-record all the Fever and Pretty. Odd. songs with him as the main vocalist. It would combine two of my absolute favourite and highly treasured things when it comes to music -- Ryan's lyrics, and Ryan's vocals. 

But until that day I can only hope and fantasize. In the meantime, I listen to Fever and Pretty. Odd. again and again and think, how did a teenager write poetry that puts Shakespeare to shame and completely blows anything heard or seen before out of the water? Is it commitment and hard work? Childhood influences and exposure? Or simply plain-old natural talent? 

I am someone who doesn't really believe in natural talent. I do think that some people are naturally inclined to succeed at one thing or another based on how their brain developed, or what they were exposed to as a child -- a person who has more grey matter in the area that has to do with language processing, and spent a lot of time reading as a child, is going to start out being a better writer than a child who doesn't have that. 

But that is the thing -- start out as. Because no matter what skill level someone starts out with, if they put in enough hours and hard work they will always gain skill and improve -- often times even becoming way better than the person who had the ideal starting-point, the 'natural talent'. So, in short, hard work and consistency beats natural talent in the end.

When it comes to Ryan Ross I am not sure which one it is. I have come to the conclusion that he was lucky enough to possess both important ingredients for becoming a master in his field -- natural talent, and a hard-working attitude. He used to write for hours and hours, obsessively and without stopping. And he already had a great starting point and understanding of literature and poetry he could jump off of. 

But in the end, it doesn't really matter if one possesses this mystical 'natural talent' or not -- the most important thing is that one is pouring all their love and emotions into one's craft, to the point where one's very soul is palpable in the words. Ryan Ross certainly did. And I will always admire and look up to him, and strive to become just a bit more like him.


'I know the world's a broken bone / 
But melt your headaches, call it home' - Northern Downpour, Pretty. Odd.