Friday, August 15, 2008

Even My Secret Identity Is Cool

One evening in D.C we went for wonderful french food (I must get the name of that place, yum!) and then wandered around the neighbourhood going into a book store and funky area of the city. This was a special visit for me, and maybe Stagg too...because this was the first time since we were together that he was meeting one of my family. He knows my daughter, but he knew her long before we were together. Oh wait. Stagg has met my step-mum: "Dr. D-J". One of the few well adjusted role models in my family. So...but still, n some ways, meeting my brother-in-law was a kind of "step" if you will. (I promised Stagg he wouldn't ever have to meet my parents because they are insane, with their even crazier spouses. And actually, there are worse crimes than being crazy. They aren't good people. I had to cut them out of my life years ago)

So we wandered to a bookstore my bro-in-law wanted to show us. Sheesh, can I use his name? I can't remember ha ha. I think I did already with his picture earlier this week. Greg pulls a book of the shelf and says "Hey, this is you and Stagg-people want to live like you two!" and passes us a book called The Rise of the Creative Class. Stagg immediately reached over and pulled off a book by Twyla Tharp called The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It and said, "No this is more like what we are, it's hard work."

We kind of had a moment of well, Greg meant as a compliment saying we are living the dream, and people are studying us. I thought it was funny both Stagg and I were like...sheesh can't us arists just be artists? Now lawyers and doctors want to be "cool" and bottle up creativity. As long as they start to buy fucking art, I don't care if there is a creative class or not. Share some of that green with the real creative class cowboys! Right now that "creative class" is not selling any fucking art! We totally shut down the idea of that book and notion. but I've been thinking about it since...

I thought of Mister Anchovy and several others and wondered if they had heard of this economic theory...and I could hear Stagg and Mister Anchovy laughing and laughing in my head...

An article with the professor who is penning the term Why Cities Without Gays and Rock Bands Are Losing The Economic Development Race is here, click on the yellow text...

Creative Professionals: "Knowledge workers" and expanding to include lawyers and physicians.
Super-Creative Core: This comprises about twelve percent of all U.S. jobs. This group is deemed to contain a huge range of occupations (e.g. architecture, education, computer programming) with arts, design, and media workers making a small subset.
Additional to these two main groups of creative people, the usually much smaller group of Bohemians are also included in the Creative class.


The social theories advanced by Florida have sparked much debate and discussion. Florida's work would propose that a new or emergent class, or demographic segment made up of knowledge workers, intellectuals and various types of artists is an ascendant economic force, representing either a major shift away from traditional agriculture- or industry-based economies, or a general restructuring into more complex economic hierarchies.
The theses developed by Florida in various publications were drawn from - among other sources - US Census Bureau demographic data, focusing upon economic trends and shifts apparent in (at first) major US cities, with later work expanding the focus internationally.
The nebulous creative class has been on the rise for at least four decades; with an economic shift towards technology, research and development, and the internet (and related fields) building within the overall postwar economies of many countries.
A number of specific cities and regions (California's Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128, The Triangle in North Carolina, Austin, Seattle, Bangalore, India, Dublin, Ireland and Sweden) have come to be identified with these economic trends; in Florida's publications, the same cities are also heavily associated with the "creative class."
From Wikipedia

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, as a lawyer myself tho I don't remember any class at school that removed the creativity a student might have or be developing! I can honestly admit that I have very little creative about me and do admire it in you and others. It's just that medicine and law are learned and practised but I don't think so limiting on the mind as I think you are suggesting. There is a person underneath that veneer of book learning that has a multitude of experience outside the classroom and office. But perhaps I have totally misunderstood. I don't think creativity and law and medicine are mutually exclusive.

Muppie

Candy Minx said...

Wow, Muppie, thanks for stopping by!

You know, it' s so funny you are posting this becausee I was working on a post for tomorrow a kind of disclaimer. I have friends who are lawyers and doctors and it occured to me ...Oooppppsss! I don't mean to imply any transgression.

Actually, it was Wikipedia that I was quoting about doctors and lawyers being studied in Prof. Florida's essay "The Creative Class" etc.

And I hope you know, I realize NOBODY buys art. It is not accurate or thoughtful of me to put the lack of art communion soley on the shoulders of lawyers and doctors. I fell into a stereotype that thye are some of the few people who could afford to buy art.

Bad Candy.

I added a vdeo by Cake. And Muppie I hope you enjoy it! I think it's appropriate and funny!

Anonymous said...

Love the video! and I do get the distinction you are making between being creative and being "seen" to be creative by purchasing creative work of otheres. How kind of you to react to my comments so thoughtfully.

Muppie

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