I have never really managed role models or heroes that I’ve wanted to emulate.  The closest I’ve come is wanting to emulate specific aspects of other people, most notably the more noble or interesting parts of my friends.  What I do manage to do however, is to collect people that I most definitely do not want to be like, especially those who I can see myself becoming if I’m not careful.

Among the most notable of these is Valerie Solanas. Especially as what little she did release was great (especially her SCUM Manifesto), her life and actions are tragic.  Her shooting of Andy Warhol was bad enough, that it effectively stopped both of them from releasing anything worthwhile again, essentially a murder-suicide in which no one died, is awful.

Things I try to learn from Valerie:

1) I shall acknowledge and respect the potential dangers of creative endeavors to my sanity
2) I will think big, because I may only get one shot at things
3) I will resist the appeal of shock for shock’s sake
4) Keep many copies of things
5) Be careful in business

I am unlikely to ever shoot anyone (though it is awfully fun to think about it sometimes), but there have been times that I could imagine ending up dying in poverty on the streets having accomplished something important and nothing at all.

This is video of her being escorted from court to jail.  If you look closely, at times you can tell that the weight of her circumstances has hit her.

Here’s an old desktop background of mine I made from screengrabs from this: