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Something doesn't come from nothing. To bring something into being, especially something as abstract as a culture, one must often work with what one has and often without an obvious agenda. If we were to be so straightforward as to create an overt brand and target market package, we'd lose the most important people: the unique ones. Keeping things a bit of a puzzle challenges everyone to look deeper and to not accept a slogan or an elevator pitch as if it were ever an acceptable summary of what any of us are about.

Reason has not fled from us so much that we have become quixotic; we have a coherent vision of what we hope to accomplish--usually--and we are well aware of who and what we're facing in this environment. We have a sense of humor about how absurd, even impossible we can be in this regard. But we are on a quest of sorts, to find meaning beyond the usual hit-and-run of the internet experience. 

I have been alarmed to find that in one of the most literate cities in America people have seemed less interested in cultivating themselves as thoroughly as they once used to even a few short years ago. I remember a time when people studying fashion design expected to learn to sew for example, or a photographer would have studied art or design. At the heart of it is a kind of laziness whose rise seems to have coincided with the rise of reality television, and perhaps for good reason; the underlying lesson of reality shows seems to be that fame and material rewards are just as likely--if not more likely--to come to those who do not make any effort. I will not say that the rise of reality television caused this, for the whole genre could not have flourished so rapidly in a culture that did not already accept to some degree such laziness as a virtue. But the drive to become a celebrity can be greater than the drive to develop talent. Blame Andy Warhol and those 15 minutes of fame.

This is not to say that talking about celebrities should be beneath us. To the contrary, as archetypes and symbols of our culture, celebrities can ignite important conversations. Unfortunately, most of it is relentlessly negative and ad hominem, both in media and in public forums. At some point, the coverage of celebrity tragedies that showed no concern for their actual person became too much for me. I think that it was the death of Anna Nicole Smith. I wanted someone to discuss why she mattered to us in the first place, how she was the archetype of Mae West and Marilyn Monroe, but only the residual energy of the frequency that they left behind, how we used her up and spit her out, and why she let us. Nothing has changed in the few years since. I have been just as uncomfortable with the treatment of the rants and meltdowns of Galliano and Charlie Sheen. Would it not be in our interest to understand why and how these people are formed and what they reveal about us? We create the context in which they exist, do we not? I'm still wanting to understand why Alexander McQueen killed himself, and why Phil Collins contemplates the same thing.

Someone doing critical research in environmental studies once pointed out to me that human diseases often have analogs in the larger environment. This premise merits its own article, but I will simply say here that it gelled nicely with my personal attempts to better understand humans--myself included--through observations of nature. For example, there is something in the air that is causing bees to become so frenetic that they cannot effectively find their way back to their hives, which they will even abandon en masse, dispersing the colony and leaving the queen to die. Humans, too, are becoming more frenetic, overcome by ADD to the point that our divided attention alienates us and leads us to abandon that which unites us...or to be abandoned.

In being more receptive, more sensitive, or just more exposed, creatives and celebrities are prone to absorbing more than their fair share of "vibes." Whether its material or social, whatever is driving this dispersion is affecting creatives the most, and that is dangerous for everyone. Creatives are the storytellers, the interpreters of and to ourselves. Without them, we wouldn't have any foundation for understanding. There would be no one building the bridge between Us and Them. Those bridges are why we can find peace and harmony among people of varying backgrounds. I'll go further as to say that the less art a culture produces the more hostile it becomes. Art is often viewed as a pastime that exists only in cultures where there is already peace and leisure. Perhaps it is the other way around. Even our way of producing art is critical to our sense of well-being. I know that I'm not as grounded now that I type on a keyboard rather than write with pen and paper. I keep a journal just to make sure my hand always remembers the importance of intimacy with words, lest I lose respect for them. In losing respect for words, I would lose respect for those who read them.

Beyond simply communicating a story, a creative must have an aspect of his or her vision meshed with some form of idealism, no? Otherwise, what would motivate them to communicate their message at all? Money? Well, yes. But even that implies an ideal at work. Negative or cynical messages remain somewhat hopeful in that the people who produce them still desire to connect with others over their meaning.

Subterfuge is about taking a look at creatives, philanthropists, and the builders of messages in the intimate setting of our own Seattle for one very important reason: Community. We don't want to get you to buy something. We want to get you to buy into a culture that supports these people by attempting to understand them on their terms. It is always helpful to cultivate within ourselves something artistic so that we have something to bring to the table. In doing so, we learn our own value within this fellowship and can come to appreciate others. We the people of the Subterfuge are looking to create a social environment for you the reader to have a venue online and in person through The Sorrento Cocktail Gathering and various arts events around town. All we ask is that you respect yourself and the people you find there. Some may idealize creatives, some may dismiss them. What happens if we all participate in cultivating a society that attempts to know them and their value to us? Do we then have an opportunity to know something about our own intrinsic value? Are we not starved for the answer to this question? In any case, I'm guessing that most of us may appreciate knowing someone more intimately before exchanging business cards with them. It could be a nice change to be asked or even courted properly and to have meaningful conversations of some length and depth as part of our negotiations. Perhaps we're dreaming the impossible dream. But for now I'm okay with enticing some of you into coming out for a cocktail or two to find out.