The February McMeaningful Monthly

The month in which I gave a 45-minute convocation speech about creativity and made a sweater for a naked woman.

HI!

What I put forth into the world this month:

• three house commissions

• a 45 minute speech

• a sketch workshop & an improv workshop

• one lovely improv show where I played a freshman on the cross-country team who smoked his first bowl and then immediately did spoken word poetry

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CONVOCATION

About a year ago, I got an email out of the blue inviting me to give a speech at my alma mater, Carleton College. I was zapped through with honor and delight. Convocation is a weekly speaker series where the college brings someone to campus to talk about what they know. As a student, I went a few times a year and, unfortunately, the ones that stick out to me are the ones during which I was incredibly bored and resented the speaker for being dull and/or Republican.

I decided I would not be boring and that I would NOT be a Republican. (EVER!!!!!) I would be direct. I LOVE How To’s. I love advice. I love commencement speeches. With a whole year to plan, I thought maybe I’d write several speeches and then choose one. Well: ha ha.

I wrote one. It is a practical and philosophical guide to having a creative life, weaving in my experience building my comedy career through DIY efforts over the last ten years. It’s geared towards students at Carleton, a very academic (okay! nerdy!) institution which requires such good grades and test scores that even if you try to shrink away from the hot breath of Achievement, you are undoubtedly steeped in it from striving so hard to get there.

It can be difficult to shake off the high expectations for greatness, rigor, and world-saving, when you want to be a painter or a novelist or a (gasp) comedian. Because “success” takes a really long time. And you can feel silly trying and trying without institutional validation (or money).

So I wrote this speech about how I have approached it. (Thesis: Make your own stuff. Best case scenario: you are creatively fulfilled and you have a good career and a glamorous life and smooth, hairless armpits that never stink. Worst case scenario: you make stuff for your whole life, you spent your time doing what you liked.)

You can watch the whole thing here:

Unfortunately, I cannot watch this back to learn from it, because it is too soon.

The process for writing this speech was:

• writing down scraps of ideas and notes in my notebook over the course of ~3 months

• on Feb 1st, typing those scraps into a word document

• recording myself with voice notes on my walks, trying to conversationally relay my ideas while huffing and puffing up hills

• putting together a rough draft and meeting my friend Lara downtown at her office to stumble through it in a conference room, improvising a conclusion, getting her notes, recording that whole thing in an hour-long voice memo

• listening back to the voice memo while I cleaned the kitchen, stopping to make changes on my laptop

• writing a new outline and then rearranging accordingly, cutting a chunk about how to find a cheap apartment (Lara: “Don’t say the stuff about Facebook Marketplace.”)

• writing a second draft, standing in my living room and delivering it to my boyfriend

• finding out I could make a Powerpoint to accompany the speech, getting carried away, making 86 slides

Oh, and another fun part of the process was that I made a poster.

(They did not ask me to do this, it was my desire). ]

If you scan the QR code on the poster, it takes you to a video of me making the poster. Do you get it? Make it yourself.

It looks like only 11 people found this Easter Egg. And two of the views are probably me testing the QR code.

Overall, writing the speech was more difficult than I anticipated. It took much longer. And the meta aspect was that I was using my own advice, from within the speech, to push through. You can figure anything out if you apply your mind and give yourself the time, you already have what you need, it’s hard for everyone, that’s not a reason to stop trying.

When I was done with the trip– after the speech, the workshops, the career center chats– I was very excited to stop thinking about myself. From making the 10 Years in Chicago video in January straight into writing the speech in February, I have had enough of My Thoughts About My Life to last for a while.

And yet, here’s a section about my thoughts on….

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“THE WEEKEND”

Because I have continued my freelance and gig lifestyle, I make my own schedule. Therefore, I often work through the weekend. Partially because the line is really blurry around work and partially because I spend lots of the “workday” during the week doing other stuff– going grocery shopping, having coffee with a friend, meeting with Maureen for rehearsal. So then I feel like…I should just get this commission done on Sunday, right?

Sometimes: yes. But this year, I’m generally trying to not work on weekends. I’m defining work as any freelance or creative projects that have made it onto my To-Do list.

I achieved this for one (1) weekend of February. And when that Friday at 5PM hit, I felt adrift. I thought “but what am I going to do??” and then, I’m not exaggerating, eight minutes later I pictured myself drawing in my sketchbook and I got a zip of excitement and then twelve minutes later I was playing around in my sketchbook.

I made a sweater for a naked woman.

Does it count as work if I’m recording videos of what I’m doing for fun with the vague idea that I will turn it into something which will become a task on my To-Do list? This is why the line around work is blurry.

I had such a nice time messing around at my desk. While drawing, I started thinking of simmering, half-done projects that hadn’t quite made it to my To-Do list, and opening those up to tinker because I felt inspired and curious. I even started editing a video, which is usually a hurdle for me. (I shoot things and then the footage sits quietly for a month+ before I can import it into a Premier timeline.)

Listen, the point of a break from work is NOT to secretly get yourself to do more work. What I think is cool is that I was doing similar things to “what I’m supposed to do this week” but the texture was different because I had no expectations for “sticking with it” or “making a little progress.” I was bopping around. And it rocked. Has anyone else ever enjoyed the weekend? Leave a comment.

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UPCOMING SHOWS

• Monday, March 10th, 7:30PM @ The Lyric Hyperion (LA) - Quality Time. I’ll be doing a funny presentation (!) inspired by the theme “Feelin’ Lucky.” I can’t tell you more than that because I haven’t written it.

• Thursday, March 20th, 7PM @ The Yard (LA) - Mandatory Improv. I’ll be doing improv with my friends, Sean Coyle and Charlie Smith. We have never performed together and we’re calling ourselves RAT (Random Ass Team).

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IN CONCLUSION…

I have been loving LA. Going on walks every evening, marveling at the plants, sitting in my yard, driving 40 minutes to pick up a chaise lounge, feeding my cat steroids. Only in LA!

But as soon as I got back from Minnesota, my fingers typed in Kayak dot com and I was browsing flights. California is close to Hawaii…and kinda Japan…might as well look at China, as well. As I was about to bookmark my second website for a Bed & Breakfast on Maui, I exhibited unusual restraint.

My new rule is: don’t let me fly anywhere until June.

I’m going to settle here and focus on exploring where I am. I have a bunch of stuff I want to make! Including friends. Writing this to hold myself accountable. Don’t let me go anywhere until June, except maybe Hawaii. No.

Settle down….roots…look around…live where you live…resist flight aggregator websites..but it’s tempting…I love trips..I know…but stop…okay….love you all…hold me to this…

XOXO,

CLAIRE