The Apollonian 5 – 9/20/24
Glass Homes Get Rocked
A Story About A Door and A Window
You can’t have it every day.
What is it?
In America, it is whatever you want or need. To lack in a moment is a state of circumstance. To lack long-term is a consequence of choice and/or mindset.
I stew in the loneliness of solitary study—discouraged by the weight of making lasting change in this world.
To conquer a challenge in entrepreneurship is to cut a hydra’s head; two grow in its place.
In the labyrinth, we lock horns with men of many faces.
Pen vs. Sword
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
For most people, the motivation to practice writing dies on graduation day. Corporate authorship encourages rigid, capital-driven thinking.
What does this say about the collective, humane, human ability to communicate?
Schoolyard culture shapes generations—few, contemporary societies have the pace to inspire valuable social exchange.
What happens when our institutions fail to encourage free thought in favor of the bottom line?
In university creative writing courses, my professors often remarked that recent students viewed narrators of assigned stories skeptically, cherry-picking at semantics to find institutional perspectives unreliable.
How did we get here?
Meanwhile on campus, The University of Illinois was engaged in a major freedom of speech case, Salaita v. Kennedy, et al., where a professor was found to be wrongfully terminated for tweets criticizing Israel’s actions against Palestine in 2014.
Across campus, off the record and allegedly, I had it on good sources that a powerful member of student government was recorded saying the “hard R-word.” (They did not have the “qualifications.”) A student who did have the “qualifications” was punished for recording.
Irony is a highlighter.
I write because I have questions, not because I have answers.
Writing organizes the mind, and thus behavior. I am re-reading Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. Otherwise, I’m reading (+annotating) The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche + Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to inform & develop the Eye of Apollo manifesto, philosophy, and values. More on this in The Apollonian VI.
Action vs. Word
Actions speak louder than words.
Mark Twain
This week was intended to be a design sprint, focusing on the back illustration for the first capsule titled Wolves 00:00. Instead, the desire to do something halted brand progress, resulting in running feet, no motion, and kicked dust like Scooby and Shaggy.
Note: this only happens when these characters are running away.
The trick of writing a newsletter is writing in the past tense—I must do exactly what I say I will so I don’t lie. Real life distorts the fantasies of what I ought to do, and where I ought to be.
Nothing matters beyond what is and what will be.
Throughout the week, I cycle between 3-5 directions for each newsletter’s theme. Thursdays give me courage to execute perfection. The Apollonian is flawless without deadlines. I have limited insight for the impact until feedback arrives. When sharing quality ideas, the total value cannot be realized in a day, a month, or even a year.
Those who enact plans in spite of daily variables own the future.
David’s Field of Shattered Glass
Upon starting this newsletter, I avoided the following thought stream because I feared impressing arrogance upon you. I’m asking you trust that my voice comes from reflection and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Everyone is a writer, and most don’t try. I’m unafraid of looking like a fool. Skilled writers teach me, and everyone else will ignore me, borrow from me, praise me, or downplay my efforts. All feedback is useful.
The best feedback comes from potential collaborators. Most don’t see you because everyone has plan to make it big. I may assure novelty; who doesn’t? Most people don’t get it until their peers do. In the meantime, one must maintain supreme confidence in their mission and abilities.
I understand why successful artists are inclined to feed their ego through selfish use of influence. To grow, one must fight their ego with reflection.
If one needs to tell others that one is in charge, one is not in charge.
I suspect a reason for ego’s dominance in the performing elite stems from the void of sacrifice; they trade reality—human, humane love and connection—for superficiality, resulting in padded pockets and empty hearts.
Between directing a clothing brand, a comic, and a newsletter, I am strapped for time. Also, I work full-time.
I feel guilty for saying no to friends and family, and I have to give up hobbies that were once dear to me. When you don’t hear from me, you know where I am—sitting at a desk, happy… or baring down with a team of hungry visionaries.
Until Next Time Wolves.
Kindness always wins,
Apollo