It seems like I'm more attracted to people that do not take the world as it's handed to them. I enjoy people who have taken circuitous career paths, partake of alternative forms of media, and eschew the corporate mindset that is poised to destroy much of what remains good in the world.
It's a social sort of peripheral vision. You have to block out what's in your face and make keen notes in your mind pertaining as to what is happening at the margins.
Great athletes, successful hunters, skilled photographers, all have an abundance of the gift of peripheral vision. I think a lot of us Old Time music revivalists have a social/musical sort of peripheral vision. We look beyond what the entertainment industry shoves in society's face and celebrate what most would only barely glimpse at the margins.
Because of this, we are often viewed as odd or eccentric by co-workers, neighbors, and even family. Some people are downright hostile, rude, or merely unable to fathom the way we feel. I cannot imagine living any other way.
See you in the margins.
Don
6 comments on “Peripheral Vision”
beetlegeist Says:
Sunday, July 17, 2011 @5:13:46 AM
Well written. Rather than go with the majority find your own path and discover who you are. Don't become another part of the same and become lose. Be yourself.
erikforgod Says:
Sunday, July 17, 2011 @6:26:58 AM
I agree :) If we werent like that...we wouldnt be into this kind of music nor playing banjos right?
corgies Says:
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 @7:46:27 AM
Very thoughtful comment.
Many women, too often marginalized as a matter of course, also do not take the world as handed to them and cannot imagine living any other way. We women who are audacious enough to play old time banjo simply emphasize that point.
kevinwholmes Says:
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 @10:20:11 AM
Well said.
Don Huber Says:
Thursday, July 21, 2011 @2:47:18 AM
Thank you, one and all for your feedback. I live in an area, even though primarily rural, where old time music is not at all well accepted. (I hope to initiate a thread on this on the old time forum soon). I actually sort of enjoy being cast by circumstance in the role of a musical misfit. It helps me try to understand others who, for a multitude of social, artistic, political and other reasons (yes, gender too) find themselves swimming against cultural currents. Where I live, it's "the bland leading the bland".
Paul R Says:
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 @3:04:38 PM
Well, welcome to the club. One teacher once remarked that I was "so far out, you're in". When it comes to music, I tend to think, "Don't give them what they want. Give them what they need." I remember the words in some movie, where the protester replies to someone who says, "You're not going to change the world." "I'm trying to keep the world from changing me."
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