I completely understand why you might feel disheartened...it probably felt as if people here care less about discussing music issues than protecting the online community!

Well, after college I only continued painting actively for several years, and then my time for that dwindled. I never really pressed out of my comfort zone with my studio arts except for one 3D sculpture/painted installation piece I did near the end of college. It looked like a welcoming, beautiful home scene with painted stained glass doors behind a table set with a painted table cloth, painted dinner, and real flowers in a vase, but with one chair pushed back. Scrawled on a painted napkin by that empty chair and place setting were the words, "I hate you all, you ****ers!" The canvas stretched from the top of the "stained glass doors" on the wall down over the floor as a painted carpet, up over that chair as its upholstery, then up and over a box to make the table...so all the beauty and the vile feelings were encompassed as one.

Interestingly, that installation was the painting of mine that the students and teachers liked the best, probably because I was showing some of my true, unedited feelings. And I was always a very good painter of realism.

But then during graduate school I got out of my comfort zone more regularly by volunteering and then later working at a domestic violence/sexual assault center for 4-5 years nights. I'd always wanted to be the person who felt brave enough to help others during traumatic times in their lives. So, even though I was worried I wouldn't feel comfortable as an advocate, I tried to become the person I wanted to be.

I discovered I was much more comfortable outside what I had thought of as my comfort zone than I realized I would be. So, that's one reason I encourage others to get out of their comfort zones and do the very things they fear but dream of doing.

Oh, I think many people are fed up, just like you say, Seth! Go visit the Lady Gaga thread, for example, where debates occasionally rage about whether she is self-centered and vapid or a helpful activist.

Yes, it is an irony that in trying to reach out and change the world rather than just savor the world as some musicians appear to do, we may actually be self-serving. It feels nice to try to make a difference.

Of course anything we do has to do with ourselves to some degree. But you definitely seem more outward-focused than many people may be, and I feel that's wonderful. You know that saying, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Now, I'm not saying there is any actual "evil" (I don't believe so), but I do feel when people aren't engaged in their communities, governments, societies, etc., then those who *are* may be making decisions that aren't going to reflect the wishes of the silent. So, piping up and adding our opinions and viewpoints is important.

I have never regretted getting involved in some cause or trying to fulfill some dream I've imagined...but I've regretted times when I *haven't.*