Page 36 - march

QUARTER NOTE
Call and Response
David Freedman, PM2
Learning to give permission to yourself to create
your own projects takes time. Sometimes you
need a good kick in the rear in order for you to
find your focus. In this case, that kick came in
the form of two requests made from different
people in my life.
Almost exactly one year ago, I was surprised
and delighted to receive an invitation to write
a column for Voices! by our very own Phyllis
Harmon. Phyllis had known I was a writer and
asked if I would be willing to write articles on
a monthly basis. After a moment’s hesitation, I
said yes.
Why the hesitation? For a long time, it seems
like I’ve always needed other people’s permission
to sit down and write. In one sense, this was no
different; I’d be writing for a deadline and with
a set word count. However, it also gave me a
chance to focus on my skills as an essayist as well
as work on my blog, “Freedman on the Go.” In
short, it gave me some opportunities to further
my own creativity. But again, I was doing so at
someone else’s behest. Perhaps writing for other
people helps in some regards because it keeps me
on task and allows me to put myself out there in
ways I might not have otherwise thought about.
In this case, I’m able to share my own stories
and experience with Toastmasters, which I’m
delighted to do. However, I’m still working on
finding ways to bolster my creativity without
a metaphorical whip lashing me from behind,
forcing me onward.
36 ONE COMMUNITY
Also last year, my mother asked me if I’d be
willing to take a screenwriting class by a teacher
she admired. My mother had created a short
film online that went viral several years ago, and
she’d found her own love of screenwriting in
the process. I’d been a writer from a very young
age, but when she asked me about taking the
screenwriting class, I still hesitated before saying
yes. I was trying to find work in the middle of
the pandemic when jobs were scarce, and going
out to find employment in these crazy times
seemed almost absurd. What good would it do
me to take a class when I needed to be working?
Nonetheless, I stifled my feelings of inadequacy
and guilt over not working and ended up taking
three courses of the screenwriting class. I have
no regrets over this, yet I still noted the same
pattern of needing someone else’s permission
to put myself out there.
In music, we have what’s known as call and
response where one motif from a song is repeated
or answered in the next portion of the piece. In
real life we respond to stimuli in the same way,
though there are times when we may simply
ignore someone trying to communicate with
us. Likewise, we may stifle our creative impulses
in favor of trying to accomplish what others
consider to be the right way of doing things, such
as taking a job that may allow us to make money
but brings little personal satisfaction otherwise.
In many respects, we are taught that being