Cuando pienso en la palabra explosivo pienso en:
Ira roja, ardiente y ardiente.
Fuegos artificiales.
Pasión.
Obstinadamente dedicado.
Viviendo en el mundo de tu oficio
Tanto que el mundo exterior se desvanece.
Es solo tú y el papel.
Tú y tu instrumento musical.
Tú y tu mundo
Nada más puede romper tu enfoque.
Vives en tu imaginación hasta que el trabajo está hecho.
Como los pintores famosos
No puede distraerse del arte dentro de usted.
Eres explosivo.
Is New York City aesthetically pleasing? Is it nice looking? Is it ugly? That all depends on who you ask, it seems. To me, the city is beautiful…but that’s because my idea of its beauty stems from everything that drives NYC. I’m here as a performer, and the energy is palpable in this city. You can feel the determination that people have to live, survive, and improve their lives. It’s infectious. On the other hand, there are those who see the big skyscrapers, the Statue of Liberty, the hustle and bustle, and to them that is aesthetically pleasing. I have to admit, a lot of that is pleasing to me, too. But then there’s this: the city is dirty. There’s lots of trash, rats, smells, etc. It’s grungy. It’s tough. It’s a place where people fight to survive. It’s not always so physically pretty…but to me, there is nowhere else like New York City. To me, it is gorgeous and rough all at the same time. There is nowhere I’ve traveled that feels as vivacious, tenacious, and determined. New Yorkers are often hard(ish) on the outside, but on the inside their loyalty, humor, and strength runs deep. The bonds that tie them together are almost impossible to break. That, to me, is aesthetically beautiful in a place that could use a little beauty sometimes. I love New York. There’s nowhere like it. It’s unique, crazy, and beautiful all rolled into one.
¿La ciudad de Nueva York es estéticamente agradable? ¿Es agradable? Es feo? Parece que todo depende de a quién le preguntes. Para mí, la ciudad es hermosa … pero eso se debe a que mi idea de su belleza proviene de todo lo que impulsa a Nueva York. Estoy aquí como artista, y la energía es palpable en esta ciudad. Puedes sentir la determinación de que las personas tienen que vivir, sobrevivir y mejorar sus vidas. Es infeccioso. Por otro lado, hay quienes ven los grandes rascacielos, la Estatua de la Libertad, el ajetreo, y para ellos eso es estéticamente agradable. Tengo que admitir que también me gusta mucho. Pero al lado está esto: la ciudad está sucia. Hay mucha basura, ratas, olores, etc. Está sucio. Es dificil. Es un lugar donde la gente lucha para sobrevivir. No siempre es tan bonito físicamente … pero para mí, no hay otro lugar como la ciudad de Nueva York. Para mí, es hermoso y grosero, todo al mismo tiempo. No he viajado a ningún lugar que se sienta tan animado, tenaz y decidido. Los neoyorquinos a menudo son duros (ish) por fuera, pero por dentro su lealtad, humor y fuerza son profundos. Los lazos que los unen son casi imposibles de romper. Eso, para mí, es estéticamente hermoso en un lugar que a veces podría usar un poco de belleza. Amo Nueva York. No hay nada como eso. Es único, loco y hermoso, todo en uno.
Wanderlust isn’t a word that I hear very often. In fact, I think I only started hearing it used after the movie “Wanderlust” with Alan Alda, Jennifer Aniston, and Paul Rudd (to name a few) came out in 2012. It’s a weird-sounding word to me. Wander and lust combined together. It makes sense, though. I guess you could say that I have wanderlust. I want to travel the world, with the exception of a few places. I want to eat new foods, observe new rituals/ceremonies, experience new beaches at sunset, swim in different oceans, and just generally be able to say “I’ve been there. I saw that in person.” Who wouldn’t want to say that? Who wouldn’t want to know what it feels like to be elsewhere instead of just the safe confines of home? Home is wonderful (in some cases), but I feel like it’s when you leave that you can truly appreciate what being home feels like. If you never leave home, I don’t think that you can ever entirely know exactly who you could be if you experienced things outside of your scope and culture in life. I think traveling the world would be life-changing. My bank account would agree. My bank account wouldn’t be changing for the better, though. My point of view might. Getting to know people in other countries takes away the level of fear that some experience while thinking about how big the world is out there. It becomes smaller and easier to handle when you know you’ve got friends, when you know that you can connect with those around you in other countries. Sometimes I think that in the US we forget that many countries live surrounded by neighboring countries, so they’re more knowledgeable on a firsthand basis about the people and cultures around them. Here in the US we are relatively isolated (other than to the South and North) from the other countries. Being able to communicate with others in their native tongue is something that I’ve found exciting and fun. You see, I’ve taken Spanish since I was a little kid, and I will continue to practice it every day. I love getting to speak to people that I would otherwise not be able to communicate with. There’s something so special about making a connection with people who come from an entirely different place than I do and sharing a laugh with them simply because language is not as much of a barrier. It’s liberating! I truly hope that someday more students in the US are required to take years of foreign language lessons. We could then be able to communicate more effectively and kindly with all parts of the world because so much of culture is represented by how the people of that culture formulate their communication with each other. If we can understand how to communicate, we can better understand how to work together. 🙂
Balance is a tough one for me. Is it for you? I tend to be very enthusiastic about several subjects in life, overly so, but not about others. For instance, my life is based on musical theatre/acting success. Since I was eight years old I have dreamed of living in NYC and being on Broadway, but pretty much nothing else. I have a hard time feeling like if I let up on that sole focus even a little bit that I’ll make it there. I see other artists able to let other forms of creativity into their lives, and even to feel passionate about them, and then be on Broadway as well. I strive to be like that, nowadays, to allow myself the chance to try and indulge in other things in order to live a more full life…but that is really hard. I have many interests (photography is kind of cool, I love Spanish, I like drawing, etc.), but if I could have my dream of being on Broadway that would be the one thing that I actually really want and have made life decisions based on that; well, that and my current personal relationship with the most awesome guy in the world. So…it’s hard to learn that stepping back on my passions and trying to allow myself to do things that I see as less advancing of my ambitions are equally as valuable. You see the conundrum? Balance, for me, is a learned activity. I’m learning that balance is necessary because if you put all of your eggs in one basket, what happens when that basket breaks?: it falls apart…and that’s destructive. So….I try to teach myself to allow myself to feel passion about other things, too, while still finding ways to work on my preferred art. That also becomes difficult when work/life balance gets in the way. As artists, our survival jobs often times do not pay nearly enough to cover the costs of life as an artist, lessons, etc. So, I’m learning to try and balance that as well. I’m a very hard worker in all areas, so giving myself a break and giving myself balance is something I work on every day. 🙂 Honestly, I don’t feel that I’ve ever allowed myself to be so open while writing a post for the internet, so please excuse the very personal nature of this post if you’d prefer it, but the word balance struck an unexpected “note” (see what I did there?) with me. I hope you find balance in your lives comes more naturally for you than it does for me, and that some day we all feel equally balanced. 🙂 Happy writing/reading!
MusicTrGrlinNYC 