Imitation Really IS The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
As long as it's credited properly so you can't be sued for plagiarism, eh??
There are no truly original ideas. Everything is derivative. Everyone rips off and borrows ideas from someone else. Everyone is influenced by others. We just need to be honest enough to admit it to ourselves before we get sued for plagiarism.
Me, probably while under the influence of some fine Minnesota Ditchweed
After, like, a gazillion years of human history, I feel pretty comfortable with the above sentiment. I’ve long believed that at this point in the history of bipeds there is little that’s truly new and original. What we excel at is intellectually re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, if you will. Someone sees concept A, infers B, C, D, etc., and before you know it humanity has something truly unique and exciting birthed from familiar building blocks.
Kinda like a COVID-19 vaccine, no?? The basic concepts were already in place; it just took a few off-the-charts geniuses to put everything together. Before you knew what was happening, here we are, saving humanity. Helluva deal, eh?
It’s like my continuing fascination with the guitar, f’rinstance. A box of some sort or another. Six strings, more or less. It’s been a known quantity for something like six or seven centuries…and yet artists are STILL conjuring up new and different ways to create music with it.
I have to admit, then, that my idea for North Stars and Cowboy Bars wasn’t entirely my own, and I should probably give credit where it’s due. The idea actually came from Stacey Eskelin, a writer from Houston who did the “chucked it all and moved to Italy” thing. Her site, Cappuccino, is a series of reflections on her experiences as an expatriate in a country that can be simultaneously fascinating, beautiful, and maddening.
Having recently ended my own blog of nearly 20 years, and been Instagram BFFs with Stacey for some time, I was excited when she started Cappuccino. In typical “Monkey see, Monkey do” fashion, it wasn’t long before I found myself thinking, “Hey, there’s something I can do as well!!” It didn’t hurt that I was in search of an outlet for my writing.
Hopefully, Stacey isn’t thinking that I’m competing with her, because that’s not the case at all. For one thing, her experiences as an expatriate are truly unique and fascinating. My own (from Cyprus, Croatia, and Kosovo) are from a couple of decades ago and involved war zones, something few folks will probably want anything to do with.
Having once upon a time lived the ex-pat life myself, I’m always interested in the experiences of others who’ve traveled a similar path. Since mine involved things like dodging minefields and being aware of the possibility of snipers, I wasn’t always your prototypical turista. Having grown up in a part of the world where my idea of violence was a snowball fight, living in actual, honest-to-God war zones (even quiet ones) was an education.
Stacey has had some of the seemingly idyllic experiences I missed from my ex-pat experience- not altogether, of course, but enough that I’m fascinated by what she has to share.
Vibrators in Italian vending machines? Do tell…and it’s a helluva a lot more titillating than talking about dodging snipers or minefields.
Without sounding too much like a fanboy, I hope that you’ll check out Cappuccino. I think you’ll enjoy her perspective and her writing as much as I do.
Tell her fanboy…er, Jack sent you.