Hope and Dreams

by,

Kathie Shoop

While hope is the watch-word for the just ended political season, I think hope is something that lives inside artists every day of their lives.

Mickey Rourke's Golden Globe acceptance speech illustrates the way hope comes and goes with the weight of a battle ax when your craft often relies on the whims of others.

And even when writers feel especially hit by rejection, there is some pebble of hope buried in their skin, coursing through their blood, somewhere in their being or they wouldn't be able to go on with their work.

I think hope can be uplifting, but also a bit painful. Knowing that you can't stop writing even though you sort of want to isn't the best place to be. Perhaps that's why the moody, self-abusive image of artists came about. From witnesses seeing an artist at that point when hope settles as pain for a bit, before they swing back into quiet action and shape their work into something great.

I can't imagine not having dreams. I've had them for as long as I can remember, though they've changed considerably over the years. And I have to say I feel lucky to have found the work that gives me hope even when it's hard, that my work is to some degree who I am...I realize that's not always good, but for me, it works.