In Conversation w/ My TL Stars: Syriek

Ask Haider Ackermann what it means to protect your ability to create… As someone who got dispossessed of their namesake label, unable to make things under one’s own name. The answer you’ll get will be very material, legal. There are even more things to protect, at least for those who intend to create and bring beauty and truth to our world. This theme of protection has been the emerging quality from my conversation with Syriek. I’ve been an appreciator of his expression for years now, dating back to his tweets about the Balenciaga patent loafers (or Doohickeys as he calls them).

Syriek’s twitter name is JEHOVASFLYESTWITNESS… I mean… who am I not to tune in? From tweets to visuals, styling, heart and just taste, he is undeniable in my world. But this is not an interview, nor a probing pseudo-scientific unraveling of his creative process.

source: @ssyriek on twitter

To hear from the man himself, open the journal and see what he has written about the songs which have been stirring his heart as of late. I don’t intend to squeeze gems out of a maker and hawk them for passive consumption on these digital streets. We spoke, and one “thing” seems to be the essence wrapped around this particular chapter of Syriek’s life. If I’m going to create great things, and I must, for my own life, then I must protect myself. “It’s in my own hands” The act of creation is sacred, it requires every ounce of energy and attention one can provide. Everything requires energy–remaining oneself, protecting the silence in which ideas brew and grow, observing the ebbs and flows between the world and ourselves, being present for loved ones, earning a keep to fill our bellies and feed our workings… Between vulture-like screens clamoring for our attention every few minutes and navigating the emotional landscapes of people in our lives, you might find yourself blind to the energy leakage constantly taking place. For those who already know their creative process, who have taken the required trips within, for whom it’s no longer about “what do I make?” or “how do I make great things?” But “how do I make sure I am never in a position where I cannot create, where I cannot pour abundantly into creation?” The protective instinct becomes ferocious. One must build the very scaffolding and structure which braces the actual works to be created.

Have you the energy to give of yourself today? Have you the friends to build with? Have you the silence to see with? Have you the love to pour? Have you the body to build and sustain? Have you the ability to conjure up greatness? Have you the levity in your spirit? Have you the joy in your being? Have you the freedom? Have you the means?

See, this is no longer survival, these are the beginnings of prosperity. But why? Why must we create? Why must it be great and beautiful and holy? Much like the air in our lungs, we cannot live without beauty. Nothing mediocre or untrue could ever bring beauty. The beauty which silences your worried heart, wraps you in a soothing embrace, brings you to a place so vast where you are so small yet there is not a thing to fear. The same place as before a storm, or before the eyes of the one you love. An instance so great it spurs you into action, you must do things, share with others. A beauty which helps you sleep soundly for the first night in a lot of nights. Moments which absorb your being and dissolve your small self, Everything good is there when there is beauty.

Nothing short of truth can put us in contact with that place. Beauty is all around, yet in the things we see daily, it's all so rare and hurtful. The mediocrity, cons, attacks on our time and spirit, attacks on our sense of community and humanity, it’s all so hurtful. Isn’t that why Haider Ackermann has to make sure he is always in a position to create? And why Syriek must also protect himself ferociously? And what about us? Are we not in the same boat?