Shield Maiden

"It is not the artist's job to succumb to despair but to find the antidote for the emptiness of existence." -Midnight in Paris

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I spend my summers working at a youth camp. One day, a few summers ago, one of my fellow cabin leaders turned to me saying, "I don't think you realize how great you are. My campers are always talking about how cool you are and saying things like 'I want to be like Katie when I'm older."

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First of all, that's a lot of pressure, but second, and infinitely more important, I want to be like Katie when I get older too. At least, I want to be like the Katie they get to see; the polished final draft, the edited photo or completed painting. Others get to see the outside Katie triumphantly holding the antidote for the emptiness of existence. I only see the first draft. The long upward hike away from despair and melancholy as I try to use art or writing to perfectly express what I see, feel, and experience. The thing is, the closer you get to the mountain the harder it is to see. So I keep going with the hope that I'm closer to the top than I think.

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My name is Katrina, I have a BA in Creative Writing from Whitworth University. My first love is writing, my second is adventure, and my third is art and film photography, whether its my Instax or my vintage OM-1 there's always a camera somewhere nearby. Someday I hope to be grown up enough to combine the three, until then I'll just continue my wanderings and ramblings until I reach the top of that mountain.

 

I live, play, and slay dragons in Western Washington.