Consider Yourself Hugged

As artists, a great many of us find ourselves outcast... More often than not as a result of our irregular habits and unconventional perspectives on the world. Others still, turn to art as a method of self expression as a result of their exclusion.
Maybe some of you have floated through life on a gentle wave of puppies and marshmallow cream... but it seems that most people have a difficult time.
I do.

We are no strangers to the flaunting of convention, to baring our teeth or raising our fists in the service of a worldview that often takes the seething energy of life and lays it bare and beautiful.
It is this passion that makes our community unique, and when the social cost of practicing art, enduring the turbulence of criticism and the pains of improvement grinds down our practiced cynicism we are granted an opportunity to band together for the downtrodden and the lost. To depend upon each other in our moment of weakness.
To share in every facet of the human experience, and to support each other in our mutual fragility. 

If our mantle as artists, as producers rather than strict consumers of media, means ANYTHING in the broader social sense it is this...
It is up to us to be as inclusive and understanding of the downtrodden, the suffering, and the legions of self-proclaimed freaks who also practice our strange craft.
As the recipients and shapers of human experience, we would do well not to forget.
...
So don't be an asshole

-Chris

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

-Ian MacLaren