Fermented, Folks!
So, after a long three weeks of anxious waiting and checking and pressing down upon, my cabbage has become kraut. I have to say, it’s pretty great. If you like that kind of thing. I am the savior of my own gut garden. I have a lot of it. Might have to give some away. It’ll keep though. It will continue to sauer. Not unlike me.
I’ve been into the art talks. I loved talking to Laurie Anderson. I recently talked to Kelly Reichardt which I will post in good time. I talk to Karina Longworth today. She’s a film critic and she hosts the You Must Remember This podcast, which I was familiar with but hadn’t listened to until recently. It’s great. It’s not quite film criticism. It’s the history of Hollywood and all that implies. So, it moves through film, production, celebrity, business, culture.
We got into talking about film studies and real film criticism. I minored in film criticism in college. She has a Masters in it. These kinds of conversations always make me a bit insecure. Intellectually, I never really think I know enough or really understand art and film in the right way. I can reference writers and movies but I generally feel like a fraud. I know there is no right way to appreciate art, but there is. There is a sophisticated, intellectual and critical approach to art and film that encourages a deeper understanding. I just don’t think I quite have it. I have something, but I’m generally winging it.
That’s not to say that my life and experience and education doesn’t inform my opinions and insights and they are relatively diverse and vast but I just think I fall short. I’ve done some of the reading. I’ve taken some of the classes. I’ve had the conversations of an excited student of film. That was a long time ago. I’ve picked up bits and pieces of ideas and theories here and there over the years.
I just don’t trust my understanding because I compare myself to the people who wrote the books I barely understood or taught the classes based on the writings of the people who wrote the books. AND I never feel like I’ve seen enough or read enough. So, I just beat myself up over not paying attention or studying enough or correctly 35 years ago.
When I do relax, I realize that I know more than I think and my insights are valid and some are even uniquely mine. That’s enough. Until they ask me to teach a class. Then I’ll just pretend to understand the writers that really no one understands and help create a generation of adults who doubt themselves.
I am once again having the conversations of an excited student of film. Today is one of those.
On Thursday I talk to comedian Cathy Ladman who I watched at the Comedy Store when I was a doorman. It was great catching up.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
Art Talks.
