Everyone finds their own sources of inspiration. Find yours, and visit them frequently, especially in these times of great uncertainty. Then go to work. Speak, write, dance, make music, make art, invent the ways for civilizations to heal.
Every medium has its own structure and every person has their own creative process. The unifying factor among people who inspire me is their commitment to be true to themselves. They deepen my commitment to remain true to me.
These videos represent a handful of the many people who inspire me when I’m thinking not only about writing and the creative process but also about life.
Misty Copeland I Will What I want
Being in the World (trailer 1)
Apple and the Superbowl 1984
Miriam Makeba Pata Pata
Joshua Coombes Do Something for Nothing
Vivaldi Gloria in excelsis Deo
Paul Simon & Miriam Makeba
It Don't Come Easy Ringo Starr and George Harrison
Being in the World (trailer 2)
Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Whhite House
Eddie Izzard Star Wars Canteen
Diana Damrau Queen of the Night
Dior and I: Interview with Frédéric Tcheng
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'
India.Arie & Pink I Am Not My Hair
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Misty Copeland I Will What I want
"Dear Candidate, thank you for your application to our ballet academy. Unfortunately, you have not been accepted. You lack the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length, and bust. You have the wrong body for ballet, and at thirteen you are too old to be considered." --- On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history. - Wikipedia -
Being in the World (trailer 1)
Rules work by ignoring details. ... There probably is a correlation between being very skillful at something, being a master of something, and finding things in the world which are deeply significant, deeply meaningful and essential to your being who you are. -
Apple and the Superbowl 1984
What makes something memorable? I think the challenge has always been to break rules, find something new, find something unexpected, as a way of engaging people and telling the story. Steve, from the day I met him, was passionate and believed totally that this technology wasn't just going to be a business for him, and it wasn't just going to be a hobby for Wozniak. This was going to change the world. - Lee Clow Creative Director TBWAWORLDWIDE -
Miriam Makeba Pata Pata
Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, actor, UN goodwill ambassador, and civil rights activist. - Wikipedia -
Joshua Coombes Do Something for Nothing
To bring together so many people, with the only objective being to spread love and compassion, was an amazing achievement. It's such a humble concept, giving up some of your time to help somebody else, but it really works. And in my experience, you never know when your influence is going to change somebody's day for the good, and change their thought process completely. -
Vivaldi Gloria in excelsis Deo
Trevor Pinnock, The Englsh Concert and Choir -
Paul Simon & Miriam Makeba
Graceland musicians on playing in Zimbabwe -
It Don't Come Easy Ringo Starr and George Harrison
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Being in the World (trailer 2)
If I think: Nature is nothing but meaningless stuff waiting to be optimised, then why I shouldn't I just put a nice hotel here, make a lot of money, all the people can see the ocean? The idea that there's something there independently of me is something you have to cultivate a sensitivity to And I think that's what a poet does. A poet is sort of the paradigmatic instance of the person who's learned a receptivity to things independent of us - Iain Thompson, University of New Mexico -
Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Whhite House
I'm thrilled the White House called me tonight because I'm working on a Hip-Hop album, it's a concept album, about the life of someone I think embodies Hip-Hop, Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. -
Eddie Izzard Star Wars Canteen
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Diana Damrau Queen of the Night
"Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), commonly abbreviated "Der Hölle Rache", is an aria sung by the Queen of the Night, a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). It depicts a fit of vengeful rage in which the Queen of the Night places a knife into the hand of her daughter Pamina and exhorts her to assassinate Sarastro, the Queen's rival, on pain of denying and cursing Pamina if she does not comply. - Wikipedia -
Dior and I: Interview with Frédéric Tcheng
You have to fall in love with what you're portraying. Frédéric Tcheng, Filmmaker -
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'
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India.Arie & Pink I Am Not My Hair
According to Arie, the original version of "I Am Not My Hair" was a duet with pop rock singer Pink. The song's original concept originated from Pink's decision to do away with her pink locks, while the last verse was written after Arie watched Melissa Etheridge's performance at the 2005 Grammy Awards, where she appeared bald from chemotherapy to treat breast cancer. - Wikipedia
When I was in my twenties and filled with self-doubt I asked my mother one day whether she ever doubted herself (she was an haute couturiere who had dressed the editor-in-chief of British Vogue in the early 60s as well as other well-known journalists, actors, society women and ambassadors’ wives). Without hesitation she said, “Never. There’s a big antenna in the sky that anyone can tap into for new ideas. It’s always there, you can tap into it at any time.”
Today, the Internet is part of the big antenna my mother tapped into in the sky. When I want to replenish my mind, feel the energy and thoughts of people who do amazing things in the world, I use the web. I am inspired by all sorts of people in all walks of life.