If I got mad every time some artist used my experience as an ableist metaphor, that's what I would do all day. Speaking tangentially about things that could eat your life.

This is sort of an irresolvable argument-- and it absolutely has to do with class in a big way.

I am not sure the no plan B is the best advice for everyone-- it is good advice for people who are scared. I also think it is bad advice to tell a theatre artist in their early twenties to take a "real" job and wait for a few years before moving to NY, because if you don't do it while you are young, you don't do it.

I think her phrasing of the plan B thing is problematic, and I have HUGE issues when the person preaching it always had a family safety net to make sure their bills were paid, they had food to eat, and that if there was a medical emergency, it was taken care of. She is blind to her own privilege about this.

I say this as someone who likes a fair bit of her music and thinks she puts on a cracking stage performance. But her insistence that having a plan B is crippling to one's art AND that if you ask for things you'll be successful is frustrating. Not to mention the "asking" part is starting to veer close to The Secret nonsense: think good things, and nothing bad will happen! You'll get what you want!

I believe that asking for help is vital. I also know that not everyone gets the help they ask for, and that being young, attractive, outspoken, and married to someone who has a huge fanbase can go a LONG way toward achieving one's goals.

I also think this is getting sticky about class issues, because there are plenty of people for whom paying the rent is just barely achievable, and they shouldn't be looked down upon because they aren't doing it to fund their Great Art.

This. This is one of my big, BIG issues with it.

HUGE issues when the person preaching it always had a family safety net to make sure their bills were paid, they had food to eat, and that if there was a medical emergency, it was taken care of. She is blind to her own privilege about this.

I did not know this, because I do not know her well. I was assuming her plan B was Neil Gaiman!

I actually just realized I am actually on Plan C. Plan B was to be a high school theatre teacher, like ChiKat!

This. This is one of my big, BIG issues with it.

Of the people you knew 'round these parts in the music scene, are there any who wouldn't have been better off with a Plan B?

I mean, yeah, some of them wound up big, but they also wound up, well, dead later.

I did not know this, because I do not know her well. I was assuming her plan B was Neil Gaiman!

Nope. AP may have spent many years as a mime and a living statue, but she had family backing. Which is great! That's not my objection. My objection is not acknowledging that everyone else does not have that safety net.

Of the people you knew 'round these parts in the music scene, are there any who wouldn't have been better off with a Plan B?

For many of those people, their version of a Plan B was to have a never-ending supply of girlfriends who would pay the bills and feed them. I took a dim view of it then, I take a dim view of it now.

For many of those people, their version of a Plan B was to have a never-ending supply of girlfriends who would pay the bills and feed them. I took a dim view of it then, I take a dim view of it now.

A literal interpretation of her command!

I'm not sure where I fall on the Plan B argument except I've been reading and nodding throughout all of the posts (although I must admit, I'm not sure if this discussion should be in this thread tho!), but I am really really bothered by Palmer staying with very poor families in other countries and depending on their generosity. I wish she had thought about some kind of contribution to the local community or another means by which she could be generous as well to those with whom she was staying.

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago and I can't really get over it.

A literal interpretation of her command!

Bwahahahahahahaha! Yes, rather.