Hipsters

It wasn’t the best of emails.

I am in the middle of a job hunt which I feel is more difficult than it should be. My last project, WunderRadio, was successful and I am in a field, iPhone Development, that is incredibly hot. Still I got a note back from the recruiter that “they were looking for a little more creative/implementation experience” which seemed a little silly since I have been creating and implementing for the last twenty years.

It is a brutal thing to have someone say that you aren’t creative enough, but I think one of the things about trying to do a craft is to be able to take criticism. Part of my fear is that this company might be right, that I have been slacking. Looking at how much I have written recently, I can’t argue. If the good thing of writing more comes out of the bad interview, then it was worth my time explaining for the hundredth time the difference between linked lists and hash tables. So my new goal for the next few months is to write frequently.

But indulge me a bit if I provide a bit of criticism toward who continually seems to be on the other side of the table from me during these interviews - the hipster.

Having an earring does not make you creative. Neither does a nose ring. They just make you porous.

Tattoos are somebody else’s art on you. You are just the land lord.

Wearing black clothes all the time just makes you look like you are going to fashion’s funeral.

If everyone else is wearing the same thing you aren’t being original. If you really want to brave in San Francisco wear pants with lobsters on them. Or a Michelle Bachmann pin.

You aren’t your social network.

Riding a bike is great exercise, but don’t be a jerk about blocking traffic anymore than you would want traffic to be bad to you.

Coffee is a good thing.

So is showering.

One day you might be old. One day one of your projects will certainly fail. Don’t look down on others just because they reached these points before you.

Being edgy is easier than being sincere.

Being snobby is easier than being kind.

Art is about pushing something out into the world. It might not be good; most isn’t. It doesn’t have to be visually painful though there probably was a bit of pain making it. How much of the seams that you want to show is up to you.

Try.

To me art is starting with a bunch of ideas and chiseling down the bad one like Michelangelo going through his marble. Recently most of the stuff I have been doing has been reduced to dust.

But in my better moments - in maybe just a paragraph or a line - I feel that I capture the right beat or the proper pause. I can’t linger there too long or too proud. The next day is always going to require more chiseling. Life is craft.