Meet Eugene Robinson

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eugene Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eugene below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Eugene with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

Part Charles Bukowski and part my mother. Bukowski? Because he was sage enough to let the world know that any writer worth a damn never got the luxury of being able to write in “peace”. Which nails that the only perfect time to create is all the time. If you want to create as much as you want to breathe the answer remains the same.

And my mother? Well, it was a stratagem and one probably most effectively used to drive a mule team. That is, she rode me so hard that there were only two options: succeed and excel. Or fail and quit. There was no in between. Part of this was inspired by my father who her goading rode him into a PhD, a film at Cannes and a career premised on his ability to speak five languages. My stepfather also was on the business end of that stick as well and all of us figured out before too long that it was easier to achieve the former than to live with the latter. (Laughs)

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

The life creative has always been an aspirational issue for me. So modeling, acting, writing, fighting (competitively…and otherwise), editing, publishing all seemed to feel like the spokes on the same wheel. Insofar as they all offered the same dance with Dionysus I would agree and since I was shorn of careerist notions pretty early, their creation was done in the purest of ways: just for the love of connection.

Now I am sure I could make a much more useful social impact by volunteering at food kitchens and so on, but I also feel that the creation of something compelling and/or beautiful is a great spiritual service. Of sorts. And it’s one that the people who are helped pay for. So even better.

But the responses to what I’ve done have been longstanding enough and deep enough that I feel like, most importantly, I am not wasting my time. Or to quote The Tindersticks, “I’m an artist. I’m sensitive and important.” Of course that was delivered with tongue firmly in cheek. Doesn’t mean it’s not TRUE though.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1] a willingness to be obdurate: it’s a statistical truism. You can’t lose if you don’t quit. As long as the trendlines are not PLUNGING downward, there’s a possibility that what you’re doing makes sense. Even if it only makes sense to you. And your Mom.

2] realizing that there are people out there who are more successful than you but half as talented.

3] no one cares: this is liberating. Even in the face of your finished work. We don’t need them to CARE. We need them to BUY it. A totally different set of circumstances and for those who believe this to be a crude reduction, I’d ask this: what does AIR taste like? Not as nutritious as dinner at Tavern on the Green, right?

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

If it’s musical, it’s not music that will be embraced unless there’s a video. So film/video is always a part of every musical journey I’m fit to want to take these days.

Outside of this I only collaborate (and I do this often but with great care) with folks with vision. SOME sort of vision because I don’t want to be there consuming what they’ve created later and cursing to myself that “fuck…I should have done that”. Much easier to be in if you’re invited in.

There are also 1000 ways to say YES. And I’m trying to say them all.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Nicholas Albrecht, Annapaola Martin,

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our

Productivity
Perspectives on Staying Creative

We’re beyond fortunate to have built a community of some of the most creative artists,

Confidence
Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb

This is the year to kick the pesky imposter syndrome to the curb and move