Along with reading the outstanding book Getting Things Done
Of course this reminds me of my experience on September 11, 2001 and the aftermath when I was so artistically immobilized - but honestly any day in which the skies of northern Virginia are clear and blue the smell and sight of a burning Pentagon pops up unbidden from the newsreel of my memory.
I'm not so sure everyone else in the neighborhood feels the same. I think that the artists' senses do us injustice in times like this.
New Orleans artists must have gone through a different kind of psychic trauma And this leads me to wonder if artists, poets, musicians and other creative sorts should prepare with emergency kits much different than things than those that are thought of more than essential survival gear.
So as my life has come to one of those moments of synchronicity and I'm in "Be Prepared" mode my big question is how does an artist prepare - and by that I mean how may an artist's preparations be different from how a mom, or a lawyer, or a bank teller prepares?
To prepare for a tornado, hurricane, flood or worse I've stashed:
- trash bags,
- baby wipes,
- water,
- preserved food,
- battery powered lantern,
- a radio
- and extra batteries in my waterproof container.
And I suppose nearly everyone in Washington has a "grab and go" bag with pocket knife, needle and thread, shampoo, underwear, socks & extra prescription meds.
But I can't help wondering if poets and musicians and artists need intangible things more than essential survival gear.
I'm not suggesting stocking tubes of paint in place of water, but I am wondering if I would cease to feel and react like an artist if I became an evacuee.
If I were sitting in a Red Cross shelter in West Virginia somewhere what would I want with me to soothe the muse?Laptops may not make it on the list of "essentials," but surely a digital camera plus some colored pens and pencils with a small sketchbook could make the cut. And, in theory at least, I'd gladly substitute a digital music player for an extra pair of socks.
That's in theory though; and may be just nuts. I could be just as stunned as I was after the pentagon attack and incapable of having a creative thought. I didn't need art supplies then. The only word I have to describe the feeling is "frozen."
As far as the more common emergency needs go, the links and websites listed below can give us food for thought. But for the creative soul they offer little input.
And it occurs to me that it's a subject that deserves consideration.
As a writer or artist, a poet or musician - what would you find helpful if you were plucked away from home without warning?
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Comments: 7
For general survival I think of more intangible things. A basic knowledge of how to build a fire and what wild plants are good to eat. People skills could get you through all sorts of situations, because all persons have a kind streak if you know how to access it. I'm thinking of a person who was in a riot situation and knew to say "I'm down with it." They came through it okay. People say never to carry cash if you're in an area where there are muggers. I say always carry $20. If someone is desparate enough to risk getting the hell beat out of them, they might not be fun to be around if they took a risk on you and came up empty handed.
For hardware, I used to carry an magnifying glass in my wallet, and a hook and fishing line. I would never, ever carry or keep a gun. I care about other people's safety too, not just my own.
I used to carry a safety razor blade in my wallet, but in the paranoia after 9/11 I've stopped doing that.
And I always was lectured to by dad to have $20 on me at all times so of course I do. Don't ask what year that was & what inflation has done to the twenty.
The OBH reference made me laugh even though I'm now back in VA after being in the southwest for over a year just regrouping & putting my artistic soul back together again
Does knowing that I'm twenty miles further from the bullseye and that hubby did follow through and stockpile "sheltering in place" necessities help? I think so.
I still don't think I'm anyplace near "ready" though. And I know that it's not a matter of "IF", it's a matter of ":when."
I guess my point is that I need to - in fact I have to - think about these things differently than I used to.
I don't like all the "wondering" that the media seems to like to do on the subject. Just tell me what they discovered that we're doing about ports or planes or whatever and don't dissect it twenty ways, always asking for us to email in with our opinions. Personally I don't want to hear that 78 thousand viewers from wherever have one opinion or another. Egads.
Also I'd be able to ignore it a lot better if more and more buildings in my neck of the woods didn't have such a ramping up in security these days . . . and more federal offices weren't migrating further and further out.
I'm now living in Harrisburg, PA.
I was out of the country when the hurricane hit so I didnt get to take anything with me and lost it all.
I havent made art in a year. We finally found a house and we close tomorrow on it. The primary requirement of the house was that it had studio space in it for me. Every time I think about my future studio I get so excited I run out of words I just quiver inside with long over due joy.
Now I just have to replace all my supplies and my kiln.
I dont care how long that takes. I get to finally get the art out of my veins again and it's a long overdue release.