It’s been a while since I’ve written for substack. The holidays were all consuming. This is quick little essay, but something I’ve been meaning to write for a while.
There’s lots of talk about inherited trauma these days, but I think there’s a bright side to that same coin—inherited intelligence. It’s said often that children are smarter than we know, and that’s a platitude I heartily agree with. However, I’d like to ad that children are smarter than they know. Take for example this picture of popular eighties rock band Guns N’ Roses, a band I never liked and likely never will.
I had two clear thoughts when I saw this photo as a seven-year-old:
1) That is a group of arrogant morons dressed like fools.
2) But they’re adults and I’m just a kid so they must know something about clothes and facial expressions that I don’t.
Twenty years later I saw the same photo at Canter’s (a great historic restaurant that’s quite the antithesis of these young men dining there) and again, I had thought number one. However, being an adult, I was more confident in my assesment of these posers and wondered why I’d doubted myself so much as a child.
I’m not saying kids are always right, but I guess I’m just saying that kid’s oughta trust their guts more. Shit, adults too. How many times have you second guessed yourself only to regret it? Most things are plain and on the surface right there to see. Dig too deep, question yourself too much, and you’re lost. At the end of the day your gut/intuition are all you have. And maybe you’re born with it. It sure as shit ain’t Maybelline.
Because I’m in a saucy mood, I’ll end with a saucy poem:
Your metrics can suck my shit
Your algorithms can piss up a rope
You think you’re the radio, but you’re the signal
And the signal is broadcast from the Land of Mystery
that land where you’ll end up some day
once you shed your metrics and your skin
And you’ll need to account for all those algorithms
before you can catch a wave again…
God bless you and Amen. And I’m going to try and seize some time back from Father Chaos soon to finish another Tarantula for my paid subscribers.
--Carson Mell
“You think you’re the radio, but you’re the signal” I’ve quietly thought this to myself. It’s so nice to see it printed out. I’m looking forward to another Tarantula. I’m mustering courage to finish a challenging project and the idea of not digging too deep lest I get lost is perfect for today.
Too right. My entire childhood was just making a lot of assumptions, because we didn't have internet yet and I couldn't check, and had no access to other people's experiences beyond immediate family. I just assumed heartburn or ingrown toenails were how everyone felt all the time, didn't question it.
And I love me some Guns n' Roses. I would hope they're the first to admit they're a bunch of fools, that's what metal is all about. If you take yourself too seriously, you're done. The popular groups when I was growing up, I had no interest in. They all seemed wimpy and lame and fake. The same dad who told me not to complain about pain because I must be fine, also raised me on gooood old music, while not hiding that those people often had miserable and twisted lives.
lookin' forward to some more 'ranchula ;D