Being an American, being an Artist

"Obviously, I am not an American."

"The American's have fallen under the spell of a good speaker".

I had the pleasure last night of dining out at the US ambassador's residence last night. Interesting. I felt that I had reached my 'peak' of celebrity-linked-ness. This was afterall, the AMERICAN AMBASSADOR to VIETNAM....O the history.

Anyway, I only stayed for a while, as anyone who knows me, knows my schmoozing isn't particularly effective: I may or may not have made several bad jokes relating Hanoi general life to Washington during Inauguration time.

I headed out soon after the whiskey and the cuban cigars had broken out (are you allowed to buy from Cuba if you are American?) to meet up with a more relaxed group perhaps- my work friends. Had an awesome night watching the inauguration of the new (44th) president of the US. Again, I made several bad jokes (...well, he did have a rough start with that oath!).

Earlier in the day, I was conversing about Mass Psychology and crowd persuasion with a colleague (who was incidently, American). We were mostly talking about speeches, and how they work. How they try to speak personally to people, while literally speaking to mass group.

It was then interesting to see the different responses in my friends (and in myself) from hearing a good speaker during the inauguration, and thinking: "WOW, change! He's talking to ME! I know this, because I WANT CHANGE!" Now whether this change is in: job, fortune, family, health, community, etc etc, doesn't matter- because the effectiveness of the speechwriting and presenting the speech convinces everyone he's talking to THEM. Just like all songs with general lyrics such as "I have loved, I was hurt, ohhh I can't make decisions".... can anyone relate to that? I'm thinking yes.

This all tied back to the embassy function for me. The whole reason I was there was my link to being an artist for HITS. Wow. I've never been thought of that way, and I liked it. But being an artist also means being able to communicate to others in a particular form... isn't it? This is maybe something to think about for the future!

Being an American. So much stigma, so much stereotyping, but from what I can see, also a sense of responsibility, and a sense of hope.

Being an Artist. So much difficulty with success: How do you remain personal, yet able to have your artistry engage others in a way that makes them think: YES!

These were my two thoughts for today.
Photo of Change Sign: taken from Atlantian5 with this license