Sweet Talk

"She refused to believe that things could be the same in different places; and since what had gone before was so bad, what was to come must certainly be better." --Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.

Though it may seem escapist of her, Madame's motto actually holds truth: our setting, just as that in a novel, affects everything about our plot. perhaps i notice this more because i'm experiencing it now, having just relocated from the UES to Chelsea. already i feel more like myself, surrounded by the artistic culture i identify with; that aside, i'm uncertain why i have this conviction that life in my new locale will be > life in the old.

Maybe the goal is control: by playing "author" we can write a new story by solely redecorating, without having to change ourselves. but are we merely changing our image, the idea, of who we are? Madame Bovary imagines herself dancing whimsically at Parisian masquerade balls, all the while resenting her life in the suburbs; a homemaker is not who she is, but rather what her environment has forced her to become. to change she must run for freedom.

So with this ideal in mind, I've painted myself a setting of glamour, sparkles, and love, hoping this new palace amongst my fellow creatives will accelerate my success. Could Chelsea be my Paris? i suppose it is now that the true test begins.