Academy Award Dreams

The Academy Awards provoke a rush of feelings: nostalgia, tradition and boredom. And for some - cynicism. It’s rigged! The Academy voters just don’t get it – they’re old and out of touch! We come for the glamour, we stay for the gaffes, wardrobe malfunctions and overlong thank-fests. Let’s face it; the Academy Awards is the Superbowl for entertainment junkies.

Even those of you who claim you don’t care – you’ll be watching. Oh – you will. And even if you don’t – we’ll make you watch. The show, everyone on it and what they wore – or didn’t wear – will be on every media outlet for a week until the war in Iraq is nothing but a faint memory. You gotta love America. Land of the mostly free, home of the easily distracted.

For many of us, what we don’t tell our friends as we pass the chips and guac is that scintillating thought deep down inside: Will that be me one day? Up on the stage? Best original screenplay or Best Picture – could I? What would I wear? Who would I thank? Don’t lie; we’ve all made our Oscar speeches, factoring in the time limit, the Hilary-gaffe and that stupid, rude orchestra. Should we thank our parents? Our spouses? Our best friends, manager, agent and inspirations? What would we say?

Then the fantasy freezes in a stop-frame. Do I even have the talent to be at that hallowed point? Will I ever walk that red carpet? We look down and notice the glob of guac on our tee-shirt.

How do you know if you have talent? Ever? My first inkling, in my tiny but growing little sense of self came in the 4th grade when my teacher, Mr. White, with long hippy hair and Birkenstocks told me that my poem, entitled simply but elegantly – The Butterfly – was “really cool, man.” Oh – the heights I reached that day as I rode the bus home!

What is talent, exactly? The ability to write the perfect script automatically? Without the due-paying, classes, failures and frustrations? I don’t believe that exists. I think writing talent is simply a predilection to write with the application of time and effort. It isn’t born intact, it is developed potential. The desire to write + ambition + hard work = talent.

Talent must be nurtured and cultivated. Maybe your talent lies in writing poetry or essays. Maybe there’s nothing you don’t love to write and maybe there’s nothing you can’t write well. I don’t know. But I do know this; talent is ineffable, it is usually cloaked in a sheer, idiotic drive to write no matter what, and like a chunk of marble, it reveals itself slowly, over time, as you sculpt it into shape.

If you have written a crappy script, take a number. We all have. And you may write more – it happens. But keep your eye on the prize. Aim high. Yes and write that Oscar speech now; visualize total world domination with your creative gifts being beamed all over the world to countries with names you cannot pronounce. Why not? It might just happen. And if we don’t think it can, if we don’t think we have that in us – then I ask – what are we doing?

Enjoy the Academy Awards, Rouge Wave readers, and here’s to keeping our dreams alive and making them real. Now get back to work.

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