the new renaissance

1. Three weeks ago I attended the first class in a six-week session of creative writing workshops at the U of C. The seminar is classified under their school of continuing studies, so many of my fellow students are adults with careers who are taking this class for fun, or to pursue something that has always interested them but taken a back-burner to their working and family lives. As we went around the open rectangle of tables and introduced our selves, I became acquainted with all kinds of people in several different fields - finance, insurance, non-profit, teaching, self-employed, the list goes on. Many of them said they were looking for a creative outlet. None of them said they were considering a complete career change to pursue writing full-time. This gave me pause.

2. Earlier this fall, I was at home discussing current events and popular culture with my grandparents over Sunday dinner (as is our custom), and someone brought up the film "Into the Wild". I still have not seen the movie, but my grandfather made a comment that struck me. He said that it was poignant how completely the protagonist had given himself over to living a new life; it was so youthful, my grandpa said, to make such a sweeping life change and to follow your heart, refusing to consider an alternative once the decision is made.

3. Yesterday, on the radio, I listened to an interview with a jazz musician - a native of Chicago who, during his time, had revolutionized jazz music by composing pieces with highly unique time signatures. Toward the end of the program, the musician was asked about his other hobbies. He said he was also a painter, and the interviewer urged him to explain whether he believed the two different forms of creative expression were related in his mind. In his response, he mentioned that Miles Davis had also loved to draw and several other musician acquaintances of his were multi-talented. So I wondered to (out loud to myself while driving along) if I had ever seen any of Miles Davis's alleged drawings.

Then it occurred to me: the fame of his - or any successful artist's or thinker's - side-projects is irrelevant. What is interesting is that human beings are enthusiastically pursuing disciplines other than the one field that sustains them. My fellow classmates at the U of C and the character who goes "Into the Wild" represent two ends of the spectrum.

Perhaps the stars have been encouraging me to pursue the multiple arts and disciplines that interest me and to stop feeling torn between them. We could all be Renaissance Humans, right? It seems a healthier way to be, maybe it would do us some good.