"The Artist's Dilemma" by Midnight Oil

This piece was inspired by a photograph on the website "Humans of New York". You can find the original image, published in October, here: www.humansofnewyork.com 

"If you make art for the sake of money, it isn’t art. It’s business."-Humans of New York

I make art for myself

“That’s pretty good but you could change this.”

I change my art for others

“It’s unique, but only some people will like it.”

I try a new style of art

“That’s not very you. You lost your individuality.”

I go back to the old style

“Nobody is going to relate to this.”

I write for me

“Your writing is good but I’d like to see more of this-”

I write to please

“Your voice doesn’t come through”

I write because it’s required

“This essay was bland. Where’s the creativity?”

I write just to write

“No one wants to read this.”

I paint for expression

“I don’t get it.”

I paint for others

“That’s kind of cool, I guess.”

I paint for the world to see

“That’s graffiti.”

I paint for a living

“Get a real job.”

I make music for me

“That sounds, okay.”

I make music for expression

“Oh, you’re so deep. Get over yourself.”

I make music for others

“That song you wrote me was… nice.”

I practice for music every day

“Your wasting your time.”

Why should I focus on the response?

Making art isn’t about making others happy.

Making art isn’t about making money.

Art is expression.

Money is business.

I have no business in business.

I have business in expression.

I make art for me

I am happy.

I make art for art

I feel good.

I make art for me

I love my art.

I’m no longer caught in the artist dilemma.

I create for me, not them

but the world can watch if they want to.

"The Little Inventor" by E. Marie

This piece was inspired by a photograph on the website "Humans of New York". You can find the original image, published on October 7, here: www.humansofnewyork.com The caption reads: "I'm going to be an inventor. I already have some good ideas." "Oh yeah? What are they?" "I had an idea for an electronic cigarette with a whatchamacallit in it that makes mist so you feel like you're smoking but you really aren't. And also, a toothbrush where you put the toothpaste in the bottom and it comes out the top when you're brushing." "Those are some solid ideas. Anything else?" "A fart gun."

Nothing is more inspiring than a young child passionate about helping others. One young child in particular, we’ll call him Sam, wants to be an inventor. In fact, he already has ideas of what it is that he was going to invent; the first thing he mentions is an “electronic cigarette” which would create a “mist”, causing an illusion, the feeling of smoke. The smoker will believe that he’s smoking and getting the relaxing satisfaction that he craves without the downfalls or the feeling of being addicted. We can gather from this that he more than likely has seen the unfortunate results that smoking brings. He has probably seen it through loved ones and it bothers him; each time he sees a cigarette he gets this anxious feeling, it drives him to the point of insanity. He wants nothing more than to make it stop. For this reason, I’m confident saying that the most inspiring ideas come from children. Sam is so innocent and naive, he doesn’t fully have an understanding of the causes and effects of smoking (ie., why people smoke, what it does to the body) but he does know that the end result is not good. His true desire is to help others, not himself. Sam’s innocence truly shines through when he goes on to say that his next idea is a fart gun. This shows that, although he understands the seriousness of smoking, he still thinks like a child would, allowing himself to take a break from reality by fantasizing about a way to torture his older sister on command. For this exact reason, I think that everyone should do themselves a favor by holding onto their inner child. People would be so much happier that way.

"Pushed" by Bear Force One

This piece was inspired by a photograph on the website "Humans of New York". You can find the original image, published on October 7, here: www.humansofnewyork.com  The caption reads: "I just got out of prison. I was there 37 years." "What'd you do?" "Something I shouldn't have done." "What was that?" "Someone pushed me. So I killed him." 

His unapologetic expression burns into my retina. The wrinkles on his leathery skin seem to be the product of extraordinary stress or bad habits dying hard rather than natural aging. A murderer is gazing right at me with his cold, piercing eyes, yet in them I can still see decency, a sense of humanity. I am feeling pity and sympathy for someone that took away another person’s life simply for “pushing him”. What if the person he killed had a family? What if that person had someone in his life that only he could support? What about his aspirations? Goals? Beliefs? Just what in the hell did he mean by “pushing”? Was the old, weary man in the picture really capable of snuffing the light out of someone for something as trivial as being moved a couple inches towards a certain direction in a semi-forceful manner? I mean, he didn’t say “shoved”, “thrown”, or “pummeled”, so when he said someone pushed him he meant it literally. Goodness, take a second and think how ridiculous that notion is for a second. Just think about how many times you run into someone by accident or walk by someone and nudge them a bit too forcefully in a crowded hallway or room. Well that’s how many times you deserve to die using that man’s logic, and I’m not even considering how meaningless that death would be in the first place. A person’s death can be so powerful and represent so much in such a brief moment. It could indicate the ushering of a new era, a new king. It could lead to hundreds of lives being saved and being able to go on and make families of their own/reunite with their current ones. It could represent the socioeconomic, personal, and mental struggles of a person struggling to find themselves in a world that can seem impossible to make heads or tails of. Instead, what a death like that would mean is that someone needs some anger management.