In the What?

Why weird? Weird has its roots in a separate soil from words like odd, anomalous, bizarre, and strange. Strange is out of place. Weird is always in its own place. Its archaic roots refer back to fate and destiny, the inescapable and the supernatural. Weird is extraordinary, inspired. Weird doesn’t apologize or excuse. It simply acts according to its own counsel. Back in the day, many of us attended the fabled Antioch College, where the comment, “You’re weird,” must always be answered with, “Thank you.” Weird refuses to pretend that normal is a virtue.

Weird perceives the truth and expresses it after its own fashion. In Macbeth, the trio of witches--weird sisters--tells the hero everything in such a way that he understands nothing. “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.” You can't be defeated, they say, until the forest comes to you. They don’t tell him that his enemies will cut down trees and use them for camouflage as they creep up to his front door. Weird doesn’t choose to explain. Weird wants you to see, or not see, with your own eyes, regardless of whether it’s out of the box, out of the building, out of the solar system, or out of the universe.

As artists, we all trust within ourselves that thin silver cord of inspiration, the assurance of weirdness, which promises that our vision is unique and worthy of coming into the world. It takes tenacity to listen day after day to an ephemeral muse and repeat day after day her secrets to a world that might mock her vision. It takes a strong belief in the power of weird and an understanding of why it’s necessary in a world of normal. It takes the knowledge that the creation of new and unique things is imperative, yet only possible to those who trust the power of their own weirdness.

We are in the weird.

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