11/15

Today driving home from school I was listening to NPR.  A recording of Bruce Springsteen being interviewed by Edward Norton was on, and there was one particular segment of the interview that sparked my interest.

In class last week I had been teaching my students about the Middle Ages.  We discussed the Norman Conquest and England's transformation into a feudal society, and also all that had contributed to breaking down feudalism.  The big idea that we got out of our conversations was that the lower classes had risen and gained a voice.  With this new independence from a feudal king, art and literature were created by the common people as a means to express themselves, make sense of their new lives, and situate themselves in society.  This allowed a nice transition into discussing ballads, or narrative poems, which were the main means of telling stories during medieval times.

Ballads are closely connected with the folk music of today, and they serve the same purpose; to tell a story or narrative about one's self and make sense of one's experience.  Bruce Springsteen talked about writing music as a means of finding his "sense of place," his own identity.  Listen from 23:15-26:00, or listen until 28:00 when he discusses writing music as a sense of self preservation:

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131272103/ed-norton-interviews-bruce-springsteen-on-darkness

I have always been drawn to the arts, literature, film, and story telling in general. I have been writing or creating in one way or another my whole life.  This new project, "What inspires Mr. Brown," I think is my continuation of seeking that end.  This is just a new medium.