What are We Doing Here?

"If We're All Here Then We're Probably All Special Art Rebels Anyway, So Lets All Be Special Art Rebels Together-BARR", Half of Two Times Two (mp3)

In Launching this blog, Carissa and I (Carmen) aim to create a platform from which to share our current obsessions, observations, accomplishments, and works in progress (some of which will include: MUSIC, crafts, and recipes). Here's why we care, and why you might too:

I have always been encouraged to make art. I was also raised to think of THE GREAT ARTISTS as untouchable demi-gods. As a result I have felt compelled to try to make things, but always with the knowledge that anything I do has already been done better. I could never take my writing seriously because it wasn't James Joyce and I was always ashamed of my paintings because I'm certainly no Botticelli. As for music, of course I could never make a song because how on earth could I ever presume to express myself more accurately than Spencer Krug expresses me?

I know I was afraid of failure, I was afraid of being mediocre and trite. I still am, I still tell myself in the same breath that every word I write, every line I draw, is a perfect miracle and a disgusting display of self-importance. I'm trying to find a middle ground. As my mother, my aunt, my uncle and I have grown up we have all learned to be kinder to each other and ourselves, to cut the world some fucking slack, to believe that what we are is good enough.

I believe that what YOU are is good enough, I believe in stories, yours and mine in particular. I believe that when we create something we are insisting that our story is important, that we were here and want to leave a trace, that we have too much in our heads and hearts and guts for speech and touch alone to communicate. I believe it is brave to love yourself enough to put a piece of it on paper, or in a cake, or a garment, or through a trumpet; to value your self enough to think whats inside is worth putting out. Humans have always tried to keep a record, to communicate, to understand each other and ourselves through the act of creating. I am excited to join this proud tradition, seeing as I am just another person, lost and alone, and found and surrounded, and deeply in love.