Seriously, folks.. | Leonardo/ISASTwith Arizona State University

Seriously, folks..

By Ari Frankel
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Gravitas was one of several Roman Virtues along with Pietas, Dignitas and Virtus.  It may be translated variously as weight, seriousness and dignity, also importance, and connotes a certain substance or depth of personality.  Can one share gravitasly, as in "passionately", "seriously" or "intently"?  Some of my fellow Djerassians [names withheld at NSA-NSF request, but you know who you are!] have "accused me" of focusing on the morbid, deadly parts of existence, through a work-in-progress inspired by Ernest Hemingway's demise and another, premature, July suicide.  But as one who doesn't believe in death or any identifiable afterlife, I find that looking it in the face (starker than Bergman or Tarkovsky) only serves to illuminate and fortify the joyous experience that is life.  It is similar to an atheist being able to appreciate the magnificence of nature so much more than a believer in an all-mighty creator.
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The best music/audio/visual compositions never survive to simply entertain, describe beautiful rooms or moods, fluff a patron or massage an ego; I appreciate the gravitas, the importance, the awesome power I am fortunate to harness and [sometimes] understand, and dedicate much thought to how, where, when, why, to whom, via which delivery methods and to what effect should/must/might/may it be birthed.  So I'll take "gravitasly" as a compliment, any day.
And here is the new work  inErnest  http://youtu.be/MyKvWyT54Rw