i came across this via laura and just had to share it with you. imagine my tiny doodled stars all around it in pencil…
“Professionalism is way overrated. It is the spirit of the amateur that people in creative occupations– in almost any occupation– need to cultivate more than anything else. A couple of hundred years ago, “amateur” was an entirely positive, noble description of someone. The word comes from the Latin amator, which means “lover.” An amateur undertaking was something you did out of love, for the pleasure of doing it– something you did out of passion. And when you think about it this whole country was a nation created by passionate amateurs. The American spirit is the amateur spirit.
– Kurt Andersen, in “Ode to Amateurism”
Comments (10) - April 14, 2007
It’s such a good reminder, isn’t it? Especially for those of us who’ve begun to pursue our ‘amateur undertaking’. I’m glad you like the quote! :)
oh yes. you can call me one anytime, s m i l e.
very cool and very true. I am searching for something that I can do from home to bring in a little more income; I feel very amateur in the inexperienced sense of the word but I need to focus on the love I have for doing certain things instead. Thanks for the inspiration!
it’s interesting how quickly negative words come to mind when you hear “amatuer” isn’t it? (clumsy, inept, elementary, unskilled, etc) but i love how this little clip laura pulled out from the book is saying what the word used to mean was something that didn’t focus on the inexperience as much as it focused on how much there was to learn.
& you don’t have to have a stamped paper that says you can learn.
this also gets me to thinking how over time, names and their connotations change and fall out of favor. my mind quickly races into strange places when i hear the following:
“housewife”
“expat”
“stay at home mom”
“home schooled”
words are funny, funny things.
i love it. thank you for sharing.
What a lovely blog and site you have. A pleasure to visit!
Awww, the wild and free American spirit, you can’t hold us back for long! We can take a small idea formed by a college dropout (read amatuer), tinkering in his garage with a buddy and change how the whole world lives and works!! Yeah Bill Gates! Here in free thinking America, even a strange guy like him(some say he has a high funtioning form of autism, or at the very least terrible social skills) can use his passion, to create something amazing, a rare thing in this world! Ya, I know I sound VERY patriotic, ironically, I am a Canadian living in the U.S. on a visa (of course Canada is in America, we are Americans too.)
I feel especially grateful for America right now, because of a great book I just read. “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang. It’s an autobiographical story about three generations of women in one family, living through the great political changes in China from the warlord period in the 1800’s thru Mao’s cultural revolution. The writer grew up under Mao’s rule. Talk about not being able to sneeze without permission and repressed inovation!!! Boy It makes you appretiate freedoms you weren’t even aware you had! I reccomend the book highly. It also makes you sad because China had a rich tradition of fabulous inventions. Well, they are making a come back, may the wind be at their backs!
you’re totally right, jenny.. how [un]funny that words that used to be positive things become bogged down with negativity as time passes.
dude. you are TOTALLY an amateur. ;)
Fantastic. Thanks for the quote!!
Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for posting :)