Inspired to Be Original

By: Gabriela Yareliz

As I read the homages in the passing of Joan Didion, I see a lot of people noting that they wanted to write like her and be like her. One writer wrote that “What Would Didion Do?” was a guiding principle of her life. What I find so interesting about certain figures in history is that I feel that they call us to something different. Not to be like them but to be entirely ourselves and to own who we are and how we see the world. They give us the space to be originals rather than copies.

I think that more than praise, great artists wanted us to learn how to bare our souls. They sought to teach us vulnerability rather than technique— honesty rather than conformity.