Spit on Your Finger and Draw on the Wall: An Intro to My Substack
Hello. My name is Mitchell.
When I think about myself as a writer, looking back on my 36 years of life thus far, it isn't easy to distinguish myself from anything else. The act of observing life, taking the bits and moments and ideas that felt interesting to me, then putting it down on paper, has always felt like common sense to me, natural…like something that I didn't necessarily need to try at. This isn't a brag or to convince you to subscribe and read my Substack newsletter (most of the time, these observations, if you ask my fiancé, are shit and nonsensical, and God help whoever taught me grammar).
This quality is more so an admission to tell and hopefully show you in the future that writing is not merely what I do; it is the only way I know how to deal with, interact with, and survive the world in all its good, bad, and holy ugliness.
If I can give an example of what I'm trying to get at, I'll relay a moment with the infamous actor Dustin Hoffman during an interview with James Lipton at the Actor's Studio. In undergrad, I studied and got troublingly obsessed with the craft of acting while attending DePaul University from 2006 - 2010. A student asked Hoffman a simple question: Why? Why do we do it (act)?
Hoffman, appearing more annoyed and almost angry, replied, “Why do you ask?" The audience laughed. The young actress didn't know what to say. Hoffman did, continuing with another question, "Is that a question you've asked yourself?” She admits that she does all the time, insisting that it’s not because she isn't sure she is an actress but wants to know what Dustin Hoffman thinks, as maybe he once wondered, working with idol Laurence Olivier, about the question.
Hoffman's upcoming answer is when, maybe for the first time, I understood what it meant, what it felt like when someone said they couldn't imagine their life without doing what they do. You know what I'm referencing: If I couldn't draw, I couldn't breathe…if I couldn't sculpt, my life would have no meaning…if I didn't write, I'd go mad, etc. Mr. Hoffman explains this concept and emotion perfectly.
"Okay. I'm 68 years old...there are things that have not changed in me. So I figure, well then, they're real. I know it, I know it as much as I know anything. I would be doing this, period. I would be doing it if I was doing it in community theater, which I loved. If it was the House on American Activities that came back and where they took all those careers away in the 50s...You know I wouldn't give names, not because I'm courageous, but because I can do it. I can do it anywhere. I can do it here. There's nothing more thrilling than this. There just isn't. It's just I love to do it…”
And this is where Mr. Hoffman gets going.
“But uh, Picasso was reputed to...this is just a wonderful thing he says: If they took my paints away, I'd use pastels, if they took my pastels away, I'd use crayon, if they took my crayons away, I'd use a pencil. If they stripped me naked and stuck me in a cell, I'd spit on my finger and draw on the wall. It's very important to have something like that or very lucky to have that.”
If you watch the clip, you will see the emotion behind what he's saying, the passion of striving—not for fame or money—but for an authentic self, which is where this Substack, myself, and my writing and work (hopefully) can enter stage-left. My goal, if I can even define it as that, is to write to share and connect with like-minded, curious, and spirited people every day, every week, every month, every year because, truly, that's one of the reasons I got into the arts and all of this in the first place - to connect. It’s so easy to do day-to-day via social media, etc., but in reality, it feels like we’re putting more and more into these platforms than getting back.
In terms of the content, the Substack will be shared three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Tuesday will include three short stories or ideas I saw and will comment on, along with a poem. I will share part of a more extended essay and then a flash fiction piece on Thursday. Sunday will include the entirety of the essay, followed by anything I'm looking forward to next week or anything I should have mentioned on Tuesday.
Regarding pricing, Sunday will be the only day for subscribers for $5 a month. Everything else is free.
If you're interested in anything you've read up to this point, I hope you’ll subscribe to my Pen & Paper Substack newsletter when everything goes live on Tuesday.
I will reply and discuss whatever I put out there. Being highly addicted to all things internet, devices, and whatever else I can get my hands on to distract myself from the world's craziness, I am right within reach most of the time, for better or worse.
I am also on Instagram, where I've been posting poetry and some fiction for years (@saintchristophers_son).
If you’d like to read some past work, visit my website.
I look forward to getting to know you all.