Brad Maier

Here We Go...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:59:00 -0600

Humans are not conditioned to thrive on uncertainty. We might enjoy the state of sensory arousal brought on by new faces and places, but eventually, no matter who you are or what you claim to be, novelty subsides and, at least for passing moments, we’re confronted with everyday life.

The only way I know to deal with these moments is to have an anchor in a place that inspires you and solace in a tribe that shares your point of view. For the past few months, as I’ve come to terms with declaring my course, my anchor points have existed solely in my mind. Like an old pair of shoes, one can only walk so far in a place that doesn’t quite fit.

This weekend I’ll set out with a car, a computer, some clothes, and my partner in crime to try on a few places that have certainly filled this role for others in hopes that one might fit me as well.

Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and Key West are earmarked in the atlas…

Lansdale, PA

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:33:22 -0600

Lansdale, PA

Las Vegas, NV

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:53:41 -0600

Las Vegas, NV

Coeur D’Alene, ID

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:52:48 -0600

Coeur D’Alene, ID

And so, I write...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:50:00 -0500

When I was six I declared that I’d become an animator. In the years since, that dream has changed and the path has weaved but my love of wonder, adventure, whimsy, and story has never ceased. Toying with the idea for almost a year, I can no longer resist the thought that I know what I want to work on everyday, what I want to put out into the world, and what I want to chase.

The thing I’m going to chase is imagination. Plainly, you’Il be able to say I write things (and sometimes draw them too). But more broadly my goal is to inspire imagination. I believe strongly that society is losing theirs, that this loss is a root cause of many of the world’s problems, and that its up to a small few to take hold of its banner and lead the charge.

In the age of the internet where we can supposedly be only one thing, deciding that you know what you want to do with your time and changing course causes both relief and fear. Not fear that you won’t succeed or that your eggs are all in the same basket — because you’ve chosen something that you would do for free — but fear that you’ll lose all credibility in the things you’ve just left, because you no longer label yourself a practitioner during inevitable dinner party conversation or write it in your short biography. Fields you shouldn’t care about anymore but you do, that you need to because your friends love them and you too were good at them. Of course, you have to resolve yourself to the idea that all of the disparate things you’ve done before can now inform the thing you’ve decided is worthwhile. Because at some point you just have to get on with it.

So I won’t be holding out hope for political science anymore, or writing about wine, or organizing a non-profit anymore, and I won’t be managing internet communities, or designing for clients anymore (well maybe for a bit to keep the lights on) but I will be using the the things I have learned from each of them to inspire the imaginations of those who will grow up to do these things and a whole host of other amazing yet to be invented jobs.

Brad Maier. Writer of things. For kids of any age.

"Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my..."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:54:20 -0500

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

- Maurice Sendak

"Jonze had never written a movie script before, but to him this seemed no impediment. “I never knew..."

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:42:00 -0500

“

Jonze had never written a movie script before, but to him this seemed no impediment. “I never knew how to do anything before I did it, really,” he reasons.

“Those are the situations that I find the most exciting. It’s most fun just to decide, ‘Okay, I’m going to choreograph this. I’ve never choreographed before, I’ve never really danced before, but I know what kind of dancing I like, so I’ll do that.’ ”

It seems to him that such resolutions are less leaps of grandiose self-confidence than a way to reprise the unworried and unfettered creativity of childhood. “Like, if you were going to make a fort in your backyard,” he says, “you’re not going to go, like, hire someone to make your fort or go buy plans. You’re just going to have an idea for it and go make your fort.”

”

- Spike Jonze Will Eat You Up: Movies + TV: GQ

"I sometimes meet people who say, I’m going to be this and I’m going to be that. You feel kind of bad..."

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:22:26 -0500

“I sometimes meet people who say, I’m going to be this and I’m going to be that. You feel kind of bad for them because they’re limiting themselves. It’s different from having an enthusiasm for something and seeing where life takes you. I feel lucky to never have planned to go into what I did. I always just said, “All I want to do is make things, whether it’s drawing or writing.” If I’d said, “I’m going to be a director,” it probably wouldn’t have happened.”

- Tim Burton