From an icon of popular culture, here is inspiring advice for artists, graduates, and anyone seeking happiness and success on their own terms. When John Waters delivered his gleefully subversive advice to the graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, the speech went viral, in part because it was so brilliantly on point about making a living as a creative person. Now we all can enjoy his sly wisdom in a manifesto that reminds us, no matter what eld we choose, to embrace chaos, be nosy, and outrage outdated critics. Waters notes with irony that he is eminently qualified to be a commencement speaker because he was suspended from high school, then kicked out of college-yet he is a success doing what he loves best. Anyone embarking on a creative path, he tells us, would do well to realize that pragmatism and discipline are as important as talent, and that rejection is nothing to fear. Waters advises young people to eavesdrop, listen to their enemies, and horrify us with new ideas. In other words, make trouble. Illustrated with slightly demented line drawings by Eric Hanson, Make Trouble is a one-of-a-kind gift, the perfect playbook for gaming the system by making the system work for you.
With KU's graduation in full form this weekend, it was not surprising that I reached out for John Waters' commencement speech that he recently gave at the Rhode Island School of Design. Waters has always excelled at making people laugh at subjects that are socially considered un-laughable and I can't think of a better marriage than with one of the premiere art schools in the U.S. I not only laughed; I cried while laughing! I also felt like I was among those lucky enough to attend. And for free...which cannot be said by those students or their parents. Thank goodness for public libraries and John Waters!
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"Listen to your political enemies, especially the smart ones, and then figure out a way to make them laugh. Nobody likes a bore on a soapbox."
So much truth.
With KU's graduation in full form this weekend, it was not surprising that I reached out for John Waters' commencement speech that he recently gave at the Rhode Island School of Design. Waters has always excelled at making people laugh at subjects that are socially considered un-laughable and I can't think of a better marriage than with one of the premiere art schools in the U.S. I not only laughed; I cried while laughing! I also felt like I was among those lucky enough to attend. And for free...which cannot be said by those students or their parents. Thank goodness for public libraries and John Waters!