listen:
Do not skip the soundtrack to Questlove’s film, SUMMER OF SOUL. If you’re missing summer music festivals, treat yourself to seeing this film in a theater. AC blasting, good music on the screen, and so many beautiful faces! I was deeply moved to witness so much joy. Music that my mom blasted in our apartment when I was a kid lit me up inside and had me dancing in my seat, but it was seeing how much the concert meant to the Harlem community that brought me to tears. The festival, which ran before Woodstock, had been largely forgotten, the concert tapes moldering in a basement. Questlove, of The Roots, worked with hours and hours of music to bring us the film. In a NYTs interview he says:
History saw it fit that every last person that was on that stage now winds up defining a generation. Why isnât this held in the same light? Why was it that easy to dispose of us? Instead, the cultural zeitgeist that actually ended up being our guide as Black people was âSoul Train.â And so, Iâm always going to wonder, âHow could this and âSoul Trainâ have pushed potential creatives further?â
Read about Questlove’s passion project here. The film is both a pleasure and heartbreaking because little has changed for black people in our country. We have so much work to do.
Continuing my love affair with CREATE OUT LOUD, a podcast about the creative life from Jennifer Louden, my pal and a creativity expert, I recently listened to two episodes that entertained and brought insights. The first is with Angeline Boulley, whose book, FIREKEEPERâS DAUGHTER, is being made into a limited Netflix series by the Obamas. Pretty amazing news for a debut author! Boulley, 55, spent 10 years working on her novel, delving into everything from the intricacies of illegal drugs, (she learned how to cook meth!) to law enforcement, to hockey, to the ways of her own tribe, the Ojibwe people.
An insight from Jen:Â Once again a guest talks about self-compassion. How many times does that come up? Beating yourself up for what you are not doing, always raising the bar, expecting things from yourself in your creative work that donât fit in your life, pretending that you can be someone you arenât in terms of time or energy, is not gonna make it possible for you to create out loud.
Another episode, a conversation with Maggie Shipstead, has spurred me to want to read Shipsteadâs work. Particularly ASTONISH ME.
An insight from Jen: Maggie didnât have an identity of herself as a writer, she didnât have a set of expectations⌠identity has to support the fullness of our self and our creative expression. And it needs to be fluid. It is not armor that we put on.  If calling yourself a writer, painter, actor, helps you to take it more seriously, yay. If it becomes a pressure, an oppression⌠throw it out. Make up a new word. Make yourself a hybrid.
There are many more episodes with all kinds of creatives. If you like nerdy (in the best possible way) conversations about creating⌠this could be your jam.
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