Saturday, November 14, 2009

poor but sexy

One of my favourite things to do is to take a bus or train somewhere. There's a certain calm and time for quiet reflection when you're sitting on a bus or train moving through city or countryside.

I love the physical act of moving from A to B. Right now I'm on a bus travelling from Montreal to Toronto, and it's raining outside.The window is blurry, the sky is grey and streams of water are racing each other towards the finish line at the bottom of the window ledge.

I came to Montreal for the weekend to meet up with Carey. She is in Halifax and Montreal is the halfway point for us. We are working on a collaborative art/craft project on the idea of correspondance.we left with some more definitive objectives and tasks to tackle before the show in three weeks, but I think Montreal has done wonders for motivating and inspiring me.

The city is bilingual and ther is something to be said about it's dual personality. The bilingual thing provides this mania that drives the city in a highly creative manner. Like Berlin, Montreal is broke, yet has a high concentration of artists. Certainly creativity and lack of income can go hand-in-hand, and that may be the case in beautiful Montreal. The creative energy oozing from this city seems maddening sometimes.

My hostess brought up an interesting point last night at dinner. She is a social worker and decided to move to Montreal because there is also a high concentration of mental illness in the city. She mentioned the idea os a correlation between artists and mental illness. "An artist is someone who does things differently, and someone who is suffering from mental illness is someone who can't do things in a 'normal' way."

Simple words but there's a certain truth to it. That line between insanity and creativity can be a thin one.

I've been in Toronto for a while, and I think I've fallen into a bit of a routine. There is a lot going on in this city in terms of music and the arts, but I find there's an underlying business aspect to it. It's not necessarily negative; there's simply less of a division between commerce and art. Or at least the partnership between the two is much more evident.

The mayor of Berlin once said the city is "poor but sexy." It's an interesting sentiment. At what point do you leave that behind? And at what point do you return to it?

3 comments:

PBS said...

Hi Michelle,
This might be something of interest to you.

CALL OUT FOR CREATIVE WRITERS

Poor But Sexy, a biannual publication produced in Toronto by Seed9 Photography and Design, is looking for creative writers to submit ORIGINAL short stories for Volume II on the theme of ACTION! There are only 8 spaces available. Stories should be no more than 400 words and reflective of the theme. They can be quirky, funny, engaging, political - the choice is yours.

PBS is an independent publication featuring the photo essays, interviews and showcases of local and international talent. It is distributed to industry sources in advertising, editorial and corporate in Toronto, NYC, Abu Dhabi, Germany, UK, Montreal and Vancouver. Chosen writers will also be included in the source directory of the publication, have their websites linked to the PBS artists directory online and receive one complimentary copy of the final piece.

Interested writers can submit their pieces to seed9@mac.com in Word doc. format by Friday, December 4th, 2009. Please put PBS WRITING SUBMISSION in your subject line and include a link to your site/writing samples and your location. If your work is chosen, you will be notified by January 15th, 2010. If your work is not chosen, it will not be used for any purpose by Seed9 or Poor But Sexy Magazine and remain the property of the submitting writer.

For more information and updates on Poor But Sexy, please follow us via RSS at: www.poorbutsexy.ca

Best of luck!
The PBS Editorial Team


GUEST EDITOR NEEDED FOR POOR BUT SEXY MAGAZINE

Poor But Sexy, a biannual publication produced in Toronto by Seed9 Photography and Design, is looking for a Guest Editor to edit the interviews, articles and short stories for Volume II on the theme of ACTION! The position is unpaid, but the individual chosen will receive two published copies of the final piece and have their website and source information added to the artist directory in Volume II and online at www.poorbutsexy.ca. This is a great opportunity for a writer with previous editing experience that is ready to take ownership of a project from beginning to end and enjoys working with a very creative team.

PBS is an independent publication featuring the photo essays, interviews and showcases of local and international talent. It is distributed to industry sources in advertising, editorial and corporate in Toronto, NYC, Abu Dhabi, Germany, UK, Montreal and Vancouver.

Potential Editors should submit a link with samples of their work and their location to seed9@mac.com by Friday, December 4th, 2009. Please put PBS EDITOR SUBMISSION in your subject line. We thank everyone in advance for their submissions. The chosen Guest Editor will be notified via email and all other submissions will remain on file for future consideration.

For more information and updates on Poor But Sexy, please follow us via RSS at: www.poorbutsexy.ca

Best of luck!
The PBS Editorial Team

Michelle K said...

Thanks! I'll try and submit something.

xammm said...

Hoping your correlation between art and mental illness is not too large :)
Oh and:

*O N** *AT* B**D ***S!!

instead:

*AT* *ER**!!

Greetings