Rejection

The rejection notices are piling up lately. i'm thinking i should start a special file. in the past two months i've received them from a museum, two galleries, three production companies, two theatres, a major network, and an individual or two. mostly in email form, but a few bothered to send a real live letter in case i didn't believe them the first time or mistook failure for spam. it's a lot of failure to keep track of, so mostly i don't bother. however since i've gotten several in the past few weeks it feels a little more absurd and less personal. case in point- in searching my big black pseudo briefcase bag for my keys or a cigarette i find the letter from the museum telling me pretty much straight out that i wasn't selected to for their emerging artist series for the sheer fact that this was the FIRST year I had applied for it. in other words, "kiss our ass and beg for a few more years and then we'll think about it." i've got better things to do. i've decided to take the stance of the problem child in regards to this whole issue- i've simply accepted rejection as a form of negative attention. maybe i'll start making art and proposing tv shows i know are shit just to get rejected- although with my luck i will end up like The Producers if i go that route. i shouldn't be so glib since i do have one or two situations which may pan out in the next few months, but the rejection notices have me properly objective about the future. if you think about it one could wade through a life filled with prestigious rejections "the Pulitzer prize committee regrets to inform you..."
i could get used to that.