Names

So Dan and I were listening to a little Cat Stevens tonight, and inspired by his conversion to Islam, we gave ourselves Muslim names. Hope that's not sacreligious. The name I chose is Sayid Suhayb. It means "master, of red hair or complexion." Very appropriate. And Sayid is my favorite character on Lost.

Anyway, I wrote a song. It only took me a few days to write, which is really good cuz it usually takes me weeks/months (or I just don't finish it -- usually the case). Leave feedback; I wanna get good at this so let me know what you think. Also, it doesn't have a name yet -- suggestions are welcome.


Gave your heart
To the first to make you smile
Hold his hand
Hold your breath all the while
Crushed

Try so hard to make it right
Blame yourself again
Just can't seem to find the light
He leaves you in the dark again

Keep him out
It keeps you free
To see the things you wanna see
To be the things you wanna be

Can't let him see that side of you
That mirror that you try to be
Cracked and shattered, pieces fall
Far too many holes

To keep him out
To keep you free
He sees the things you wanna see
He sees the things you wanna be


Shows you what you couldn't see
He's everything you couldn't be

Fingerprints

My favorite class in high school was ceramics. In my beginning ceramics class, while demonstrating how to attach a handle to a mug my teacher told me, “Don’t be afraid to leave your fingerprints on the clay.” As a budding ceramicist, these words changed the way I look at art and the humans who create it. Fingerprints, just like the people who own them, are unique. Too often, we are afraid to leave our “fingerprints” on any type of work we do, whether it be art or otherwise. Afraid of criticism, or maybe just wanting to please society as a whole, we begin to produce works that are bland and common. We cease to be true to ourselves, and we abandon our convictions and beliefs in the name of objectivity or open-mindedness. We’re suddenly afraid to “leave our fingerprints on the clay.”

Whether intentional or not, we leave small pieces of ourselves in everything we create. Critics are quick to point out these so-called flaws; quick to give their opinion why a piece of art should contain certain elements other than the ones portrayed by the artist. To suggest such is to say that the artist herself should have blond hair instead of brown; she should be 5’3” instead of 5’7”. An innumerable amount of characteristics makes up the individuality of a human being. And to criticize such an individual’s creations, artistic or otherwise, is to deny them the right to be human.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." -- Bill Cosby