my fave greek history story to tell is that of agnodice. like she noticed that women were dying a lot during childbirth so she went to egypt to study medicine in alexandria and was really fucking good but b/c it was illegal for women to be doctors in athens she had to pretend to be a man. and then the other doctors noticed that she was 10x better than them and accused her of seducing and sleeping with the women patients. like they brought her to court for this. and she just looked at them and these charges and stripped in front of everyone like “yeah. im not fucking your wives” and then they got so mad that a woman was better at their jobs then them that they tried to execute her but all her patients came to court and were like “are you fucking serious? she is the reason you have living children and a wife.” so they were shamed into changing the law and that is how women were given the right to practice medicine in athens
What if the reason nobody has talked about Junior all this time is because every time they bring it up Tucker pulls out like 14 pictures like “This is him at his first trip to the dentist. He almost bit the guys arm off but had no cavities, fucking savage, right?” “Here’s his first dance. He got asked by like, 40 girls, because my son’s a fucking player” “ Here’s our first Christmas. I didn’t know what to get him so I just got him a puppy. He killed it, but was pretty happy, so it’s whatever.”
For every Alexander Wang, who launched his first clothing collection at age 23, there’s a Rick Owens (debuted at 32), Donna Karan (debuted at 37) and Yohji Yamamoto (debuted at 38).
For every Orson Welles, who made Citizen Kane when he was 25, there’s Ang Lee, whose first film was released at 38, and Katheryn Bigelow, who made clunkers until she won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker at 57. (Though I’d argue her first hit was the masterful Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze surf heist film Point Break).
Kristen Wiig studied art and took an acting class to fulfill a requirement. She dropped out and didn’t join Saturday Night Live until 2005, at the age of 32.
Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn at age 49.
I can play this game forever.
Many of you reading might be in jobs you don’t like. Itching to break free from the grind to become independent Artists. Some of you might feel like it’s too late. It’s not.
We are fascinated by wunderkinds because it’s not normal. They stick out. Wunderkinds are rare by design. We fantasize about being a wunderkind because it means less time and work to be successful.
Obsessing over being a wunderkind is as effective as making “win the lottery” your business plan. It’s also pointless if you’re past the age of 25 like me.
There’s a better strategy on the road to success. That’s working smart combined with a bit of time.
For every one wunderkind who wins the success lottery, we have a thousand older, equally successful artists.
To try to become a young success, time is your enemy. To try to become a success in general, time is an ally.
the realest thing I’ve seen on tumblr in a minute.
Ohhhh I needed to read this so bad. Finally, a feel-better post not dripping in meaningless abstraction.
