Finding Square Pegs

Everyone wants to fit in, to blend in seamlessly with the multitudes and the masses. Three years ago, I knew a few old guys who smoked cigars, maybe a couple of other people. Now? Every picture I see has someone smoking a cigar. No judgement, but maybe that's why I don't smoke cigars. Everyone else is.

      Call it an acknowledgement of being atypical, or finally being comfortable enough in my own skin to embrace the "me that nobody knows." Nowadays, I'm more at ease with the people who aren't at the club, but are drawing pictures of a bar, writing about its patrons, or composing music for drinking establishments. Yeah, the artists.

       I'd much rather talk about Sartre, Camus, or the significance of a plot arc in a book, play, or movie. Nah, I'm not deeper than anyone else, but I've discovered I enjoy talking with those who make things happen, as opposed to watching things happen.

      Dig, last week I finished a short story which had been moldering since January. It is a romantic story which completed my anthology 'Sippin' Life at Lucky's Bar and Grill.' Yet, the font didn't match the rest of the document. I reached out to another "square peg" and she told me she'd fix it. I sent it and not only did she fix the document, she formatted it for e-book release and paperback. A kindred spirit, Kari Holloway is someone I'd have never encountered if I hadn't realized how much of myself was hidden from the world. 

       I watched a Cavs game in Cleveland with a super cool cat named Doug Esper. He's a writer, musician, and Cavs fan. Lol. The conversation was so multifaceted, I found myself reciting poetry in his backyard. That's something which wouldn't happen in the world I once inhabited.

         At dinner recently, I discussed poetry, novels, and short stories with a young actress I was sharing a meal with. She informed me that her own attempts at poetry sucked, but she would be in a playwriting internship at Northwestern University this summer. Excitedly, we talked of August Wilson, Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, and I urged her to make sure to show me her efforts later on, so that maybe I could one day collaborate with the young lady. My niece Rory Hayes is definitely a "square peg" and proud of it.

     Everyone isn't made to fit in, and I applaud those who recognize they'll never fit in, and instead, they create and expand their worlds, worlds where square pegs don't need to fit in holes or boxes. Kudos...

msh