- "Pound (that rat) says somewhere that it is incredible to him that so many “poets” simply…"
“Pound (that rat) says somewhere that it is incredible to him that so many “poets” simply pick up a pen and start writing verse and call it poetry, while a would-be pianist knows full well how necessary it is to master scales and thousands of exercises before making music worthy of the name. Playing scales, for a writer, means reading. Is there any real writing that has no reading behind it? I don’t think so.”
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Question from the students I worked with from Tampines Junior College today: what do we need to do to be writers?
Answer (from me): Read. Of course, you need to cultivate your voice. You need to explore what you want to say and why you want to say it. And yes, you need to develop a writing practise. Write regularly. Write hard, draft, redraft. But please, read. Study what you like and why, what you don’t like and why. Some of your most transformative learning experiences are waiting for you on the shelves of your favourite second-hand book store (or, dare I say it, on the faux shelving of iBooks, or the libraries of your Kindle app). Read. And read actively. - "there’s a point just a few steps beyond belonging that is perhaps even more important: advocating…."
“there’s a point just a few steps beyond belonging that is perhaps even more important: advocating. Belonging to a community means participating, observing, and generally being in attendance (either physically or virtually). But being an advocate requires stepping forward and helping to articulate that community’s needs, or advance their interests, or—when necessary—protect their rights. You need to both amplify and clarify the values of a community, not merely share them.”
- Kim Addonizio, ‘So What’ – via grammatolatry
- "We should be ‘reading for the sake of reading’ rather than ‘reading for the sake of having read."
“We should be ‘reading for the sake of reading’ rather than ‘reading for the sake of having read.”
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Alan Jacobs from The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
via @solle
(via ableparris)
- CDR KNOWLEDGE – CREATE MUSIC MOBILE – TRAILER (by CDR)
Making…CDR KNOWLEDGE – CREATE MUSIC MOBILE – TRAILER (by CDR)
Making electronic music is something I’ve toyed around with for years, with all the intense focus of a cat chasing string (i.e. lose focus quick and move on to something else). Now that my 2009 MacBook Pro is back on it’s virtual feet, I’m considering ways of putting it to use; setting it up as a portable digital creative studio sounds like a plan (music, photographic post-processing, digital video etc). But then there’s the iPad, and the thought of being able to use it as an instrument and/or mini DAW (digital audio workstation). Exciting stuff.
CDR has long been a champion of emerging producers of electronic music. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it down for the start of Wednesday evening’s mobile music session, but I’ll hopefully catch the end of the event…
- "Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t accept dogma. Look for ways that you might be wrong, don’t…"
“Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t accept dogma. Look for ways that you might be wrong, don’t look for ways to prove you’re right. Think. Express your thoughts with as much precision and care as you can muster.”
