I shouldn't have to defend my art to you - but I will.

The following was actually said to me:

"Aliza, you're so smart, why are you wasting your time writing plays? You should be going to law school." 

There are a lot of things wrong with this statement, and I am going to go through it one piece at a time and JUSTIFY THE HELL OUT OF WHAT I AM DOING WITH MY LIFE.

"...you're so smart..."

Why thank you. It takes a lot of intelligence to create work that is creative, original, thoughtful, and clever - all things I aim to be in my writing.

"...Why are you wasting your time writing plays?..." 

Because to me, time spent writing isn't time wasted. My art is not a waste of time, or else, if it is, then I have been wasting my time since I could talk, considering that's how long I've been telling stories. Perhaps to the person who said this to me, a person who transferred out of Dramatic Writing, writing resolved itself into a waste of time - because this major is not one you study out of desire to make money, have job security, etc. It is first and foremost about craft. It is about learning every facet of your work and honing your talent and working until you have a voice that is capable of saying pretty much anything you want to say and telling any story that you want to tell and able to tell it well.

I have been a storyteller for my whole life, and perhaps other writers know what I'm talking about when I say there is a compulsion to create narrative. There is a catharsis in getting elbow-deep into character and plot and structure that I've yet to find anywhere else.

If you've never felt the moment when everything clicks into place and you know exactly how the story ends, then there's no point in trying to describe it to you. It's the closest I've ever come to real magic.

"...You should be going to law school."

With no offense meant to the lawyers in my life, particularly my mom, and my "favorite" uncle, I don't understand how attending law school somehow justifies my continued existence as a human being in ways that creating art that makes me happy fails to do.  I have no doubts that I'm intelligent enough for law school - but I've got no desire to go there. Not because I don't want to do the work, but because there is no way that studying for the boards would make me happier than working in the entertainment industry and continuing to tell stories.

What it comes down to is, I have to justify my art to you because you are not an artist. And I don't mean you're not an artist in that you don't draw or paint or act, because there are plenty of artists whose art is computer programming or engineering or architecture or cooking. You're not an artist, because you don't understand that this is a thing that makes me happier to be doing this thing than all the job security in the world.

And if law school is your thing? Well, good for you, but I doubt it - because if it was, if you were an artist of law, you would understand why I have to do my art and wouldn't try to tear me down for wanting to do it.

I do not have to justify my art to you. I do not have to justify my intelligence, or my drive, or my value as a member of society, to someone like you.

I'll just keep writing.