I must feel a high degree of affinity for those folks at 48 Hour Magazine ’cause they got me excited about doing things I usually hate: a) writing on a really short timeline, b) writing on a topic I haven’t been walking in the woods pondering for weeks, c) getting involved in something I couldn’t snoop out and do reconnaissance on beforehand – three weeks ago 48hrmag didn’t even exist.
To top it all off, the theme that was announced last Friday (contributors had one day to create and submit, editors the following day to make a magazine – crazy!) was HUSTLE. Now, any of you that know me, know I pretty much never hustle even when I’m moving quickly; and being pathologically honest I can barely fathom the grifter sense of the word. An A+ challenge for me. But I pulled it off, 30 minutes shy of the 24 hour mark, and out of the snot-filled depths of my flu-addled brain. Here’s what I sent in:
The Zen of Tweets
You wouldn’t expect a medium that delivers messages like: “UR hot, do U have a b/f? :- P” could be a vehicle for mindfulness training, but Twitter is.
Instantaneous, in your hand, a chance for you to take the moment you are in and share it with the world. A constant stream of other people’s micro-vignettes, ranging from beauty to despair, remind you every moment is a “moment.” It inspires you to be present in your own, seeking the words (or emoticons) to capture them in a tweet.
Each tweet, like a Zen Haiku, carries only the essential. There’s no room to digress, there is only the tweet. A moment captured in time, sent out, then disappearing in the flow of other moments.
Interactive social media tool? Pshaw! The gods of Chaos are hustling us, peddling 140 character shots at the still pool of enlightenment.
My submission didn’t make the cut (pause here while I practice accepting rejection…) but more interesting is the thought train this project has launched for me on subversive spiritualism: a world full of Love Hustlers. We’re all looking for a little peace and love, but get in the way of our own contentment. What are the ways you might slip a little joy in sideways? Is love coming at us in unexpected ways and we’re just not seeing it? What about wisdom teachers in places we don’t think they belong? My brain starts wandering to short story ideas of: Buddha as busker, selling songs of liberation for spare change; a Tim Horton’s Jesus slipping a little Holy Spirit into the Honey Dip donuts. How would God manage infinite love and a disillusioned clientele?
Way more than 48 hours worth of stuff to ponder. I’d love to hear what you think, then spend about 3 months walking in the woods with that.
Valerie Roney 
Do the Hustle!
(BTW – You can do the hustle while walking in the woods, too. ;-)
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Great idea! None of those yuppie riverside joggers would give me a second look doing this:
Mind you it’s only slightly more complex than the rockin’ out I do to the ipod music in my head anyway…
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a Moonie gave me a flower once. i still remember it was a red carnation back in the day when carnations still had a divine scent. i didn’t know she was a Moonie and it inspired awe to imagine someone giving me (a stranger) this flower, for no apparent reason. why would someone take their own hard earned money to give flowers to strangers? i was humbled. but why were other people declining the offer? were they resurrecting the recent hippie movement? it was a puzzle to my mind, at almost 19 i was new to the ways of the world. between two young women on a street corner; one who had “found it” and one who wasn’t looking, there was this simple connection of joy. the effect must have been far reaching if i am talking about it decades later. it took me quite a long time to discover who the flower people were and to begin seeing the strange convolutions of the human psyche. one thing is sure: the simplicity is always there; available at every moment, in the moment joy.
since i’m going down memory lane, this post wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the dear Hare Krishna’s. those bald guys in the robes seemed somehow a bit dangerous to me. my goodness, they shaved their heads! normal people grew their hair looong… and the robes? yep, kinda scary. but man they could really dance! and always in crowded places. one day at the Ottawa Exhibition i dared get close enough to watch and be noticed. there were sweet little bells some chanting and robes were flowing on that steamy summer day. people walked by with nervous laughter, some people changed their course in order to avoid the whole spectacle, others were spiteful. no, they were kind of cool and i miss them at the airports…
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Dear Val I loved it. You never cease to amaze me. I can honestly say I knew you when Luv Moi
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Aw, thanks luv!
In other feedback, somebody sent me an email talking about the peddling shots of enlightenment:
“…makes me think of Narcissus lolling on the grass downing shooters, an awful lot of them, from some particularly tricky and raucous gods.”
I LOVE the imagery of that, very dangerous drinking game…
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…aaand in the spirit of hustling – this comment came up in my spam box:
* * *
@Marco I know what your mean. In the current economy its hard to find a company to work for that pays good and is stable . I have found that if you just work hard and are consistent you can succeed. Look at the author of this article, they are oviously hard working and have just been consistent over time and are now enjoying at least what would appear as somewhat of a success. I would encourage everyone to just keep hustling and moving forward.
* * *
Why, thank you “Reamy31”, I AM working very hard, and the success is “somewhat” to be sure. But I’ll take my encouraging words wherever I can get them, even spambots!
Incidently, this was posted under the Nightly Fires Sohbet, and what Robot Logic decided this was related is beyond me. I had a spam trying to sell sandals on the Longings for Summer stream, that at least seemed a passable hook.
Crazy intertoobs…
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I knew you did a piece on tweets, but couldn’t remember the context. Now that I’ve re-read it, I still think that this applies:
I was watching Kimmel the other night (not sure why) and I LMAO watching this segment. My favorite by far is “Fur Pillows”:
(hope I got the syntax right)
I think the little snippets we absorb in life, whether it is though tweets, random segments of elevator conversations, sex and the city topics, facebook statuses or anything else have become another way of instant gratification, making a connection or just in the know on some level. We feel as if we are sharing the moment with someone even though you have nothing to do with it directly and in some ways it’s easier that having to deal with something directed specifically at you. I personally think it’s all good! We need to feel a part of something especially when many of us spend so much time alone. Otherwise we all may start to lose our ability to hide our psychosis from the rest of the world.
As an aside, most people are surprised when you join their elevator conversation even though they are speaking no more than 5 ft away from you as if they are having a conversation with you, but of course they are not. I think after, that they must get that stalker vibe or something.
Anyway Valerie, as we dicussed recently, I am trying to create as many awkward situations as possible (hopefully without truly offending anyone to the point of freak-out level) and I find that elevator conversations are a good one. I did one yesterday and it was funny to me?!? I feel like my interjections was more like a tweet, just throwing it out there and such, but also directed toward someone. So on the other hand, perhaps the awkwardness was generated because the person perceived something similar to the mini-hustles but because they were faced with it in real-life they had no idea how to react. Hmmm…
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Some interesting ideas Irene.
I love the guy singing Kayne West tweets! “At most his tweets are 140 characters, but the depth of his passion is …immeasurable.” Frickin’ hillarious!
Twitter is really funny in the tiny little moments or thoughts people share (guys often tweet pictures of what they are eating – a peek into the male psyche?) and which of those moments they decide to share. It does create threads that can tie people together, making connections in an increasingly lonely world – I vicariously enjoyed a piece of @lonnietaylor‘s birthday cake today!
I was out with a bunch of “tweeters” on the weekend, and it’s got to be the only time people can have their nose in their iphone without being antisocial or rude, because they are tweeting about, and to, the other people around them. Another layer connecting the people at the table – as well as connecting that group to all of twitterdom. Instead of anti-social it becomes some kind of meta-social behavior. Weird.
There are always unspoken “rules” in social situations (like your elevator conversation) and I gotta say cheers for just throwing it out there and breaking the rules once in while! It’s good to push those boundaries, to see where they are, and maybe even wonder why they are there. Like when someone is speaking right in front of you, why would your proximity automatically grant you an include in that conversation?
Food for thought…and CAKE mmm.
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Ok, I blew the syntax. I guess I needed to end the link somehow? Anyway, just click on the blue text anywhere to take you to youtube.
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And I fixed your href.
‘Cause I’m a wordpress web mistress and I have the power to do that! Thanks for the excuse to haul year-old html stuff out of my brain …I usually just push bottons to create the links. #buttonsaregood!
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