Aimee Noel Poet & Educator

In this episode of Rodney Veal’s Inspired By, Poet, writer, and educator Aimee Noel shares how she “stumbled” into poetry through a professional development class, the life-changing influence of professor Adrienne Cassel, and why discovering there are no boundaries in poetry unlocked her creative path.

Learn more about Aimee online: www.aimeenoel.net

Follow Aimee on Instagram: @aimeekn

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Ad, Rodney Veal, Aimee Noel

Rodney Veal  00:10

Hello everybody. My name is Rodney Veal, and welcome to the Rodney Veal's Inspired By podcast I get the immense joy of getting to sit with a just incredible presence and talent. A poet, writer, educator, just all around. Super amazing human being. Aimee Noel, so Aimee, welcome to the podcast.

Aimee Noel  00:37

Thank you, Rodney, it's great to be here.

Rodney Veal  00:41

Oh, total love. Total love, total love. This is you will be our second poet on the podcast, after Sierra Leone. And so it's like pretty good company, very good company. But, you know, we've known each other. I did dare not put a years on on having known each other, but we've known each other for a while, and, you know, just always delight to be in social settings. But now we get to talk about your your art making, and your and your in your mastery of words and and this podcast is always about going in the Hot Tub Time Machine back to the beginning, which leads us up to today, but it's actually your collection of poems in a book are the thing we're probably finished with. So let's go back and add Hot Tub Time Machine to the beginning. I I'm just really curious about words and language is as being your creative outlet as a child, was that the original intention, or what was, or was it some other pathway?

Aimee Noel  01:47

It's, it's so interesting because I'm surrounded by people, and I know Sierra is certainly one who journaled, or, you know, were had a love of language so early. And for me, it didn't, it didn't develop until later. I came upon poetry accidentally. And so, you know, I was well into I was well into college before I even took a poetry class, and then I was well into my 30s before I even started writing something. So I enjoyed literature. Definitely. I had a creative writing class in high school, a teacher stayed after school, which was so amazing to spend her time with us, but, you know, I wasn't really, I wasn't really compelled to write, and so because I didn't have that pull, I thought, well, this is not something that's for me. Because, you know, artists talk about, you know, being compelled. And I'm like, Well, I don't quite have that. So maybe I'm not, that's not my Avenue. So I came up, I came upon it accidentally, actually,

Rodney Veal  03:06

oh my goodness no, I love this accidental, because I'm I'm in shock of that for the very reason. That's how I stumbled into dance. It was by accident. There was not a, this was not an early on love of life. So I'm like, oh, okay, Amy,

Aimee Noel  03:22

and aren't we lucky to have have found it because you're so good at it?

Rodney Veal  03:28

Oh, well, thank you. I really did. Well. Well, the thing is, that's what I would say, like, I'm so glad you found language and words. I mean, I mean so, I mean, that's the whole thing. I always think about that, like, did like, because when you're young, you like, you like, you have dreams and ambitions. Because I wanted to be a zoologist when I was a kid, you know, you know, like, it's those typical things and, like, how did it, did it shock people? Like, I mean, what were they thinking that you were going to do, right? You know, like, you state the intentions high school, I was kind of

Aimee Noel  03:58

curious, right? So, um, well, very much like you. I thought I'd be a marine biologist. I'd go, you know, swim with the whales, and, you know, all of I was just gonna, so what I was gonna do? And then I, you know, I took chemistry and I got a C, and I'd never gotten a C before, so I'm like, Well, I'm, apparently, I'm not doing this. I didn't, you know, I didn't think, oh, work harder or take class again. I just, I just switched my major to English and and I became a teacher. So I was immersed in in words and literature, certainly. And I brought my students to that. And then I had a professor I don't know. Do you know Adrian castle? Did you know Adrian castle?

Rodney Veal  04:45

It sounds very familiar. Yeah. Sinclair, yes, yes, yes, yeah.

Aimee Noel  04:51

So we were teachers. Have to get certified. So we had, we have to have hours, you know? Of professional development. And I took a class at Wright State, and there were so many of us in the fiction section of the class. It was just a free class I was taking for my hours. They came into our lecture hall and said, Can some of you move to the poetry section? We need to balance out the classes. And I said, Well, I'm just here for the hours anyway. I don't write. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just getting my certification. So I went into the poetry group, and that's how, that's how I started writing. I had a professor, Dr Adrian castle, and she said, You know, there's something there. It just felt like a natural expression. And maybe it was like that for you with dance. It's just once I did it, it just felt like a natural expression.

Rodney Veal  05:48

It just seemed it just yeah, it felt easy, yeah. It just felt it was like, I don't know, did you feel like? It was like, Oh, okay. But there was no like, there's no like, angst behind the decision to say okay to this creative pathway, and this kind of expressed, impressed pathway. And I love the fact that it's, it's always someone else that just kind of like, did she not know? And you just took like, you just take it calmly, yeah. And what was, what was it about her teaching in her class? I mean, just kind of where it just she I mean, you know, some people are just Alchemist at being kind of stirring the pot, but what? What kind of pulls you in? What was the one that finally did it?

Aimee Noel  06:36

She took us to she took us. She took the class. We all met up at Barnes and Noble, and she said, just go find a book. Just go find any poetry book, you know, just peruse. And I she found me in the stacks, and she said, have you found something? And I said, Well, I found this book. It was Denise do Hammel and and I said, but it's got plastic on it, and so I can't, like, the back sounds cool, but I can't read it. And Adrian ripped the plastic off. And I, I mean, I audibly gas. So I went, like, can you do that? And that's what Adrian was about. She was about ripping the plastic off, like she it just didn't matter. And so she just opened you, you will look at this. That's right, that's right. You can do any you take the risks, destroy some things along the way, and and look at the words. And that's how she was. She was constantly pushing. She didn't she didn't know that there were boundaries. And so she taught me that there there aren't boundaries in poetry, you know, you could just, there are no boundaries. It's great. So that was what she did for me.

Rodney Veal  07:52

Oh, it's always, you know, I always look back at Harriet wymouth Payne got me moving in a modern way. And you think about that, you think about those influences. You think about like, just, it's just like, it's now, it's game on, like, like, were you? Like, were you consumed once you, once you, once you realized there were no boundaries, that it was like, Oh, you just you, you turn into like a ravenous little monster anymore.

Aimee Noel  08:27

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And it was the first of many classes. And then, and then I continued on to get my MFA, and that was something I think I needed, I think because I'd come to it so late in my life because I hadn't had that background that many writers had, I just felt like, if I'm going to take myself seriously, if I'm going to take this seriously, I need to study craft and I need to work with people who have been there. And so I went to Lesley University in Cambridge mass and got my MFA. And so I just feel lucky to have, have had that opportunity. I think so many think of how many creatives are walking around, and we don't know it, because they're, they're just, they're grinding like they have to work, you know, like two jobs or whatever. And so, you know, to have that opportunity to self actualization, just, I just feel really lucky.

Rodney Veal  09:28

Oh, that's I just, I love that. And I love how you talked about that growing because it was thinking about it. I was having a, I did an interview with for the broadcast of the art show, Michael kopich, and he talked about, it's like, folks, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta get in there. Get in there. Once you've been established that this is the place you need to be, you just got to get in there and just work. Just get in there. Just bring everything to the table, versus just saying you're going to be the artist I'm. Of the poet, you gotta, you gotta get some grind in there. And I'm just kind of curious, is that, do you think starting late in many ways was a blessing to the to your approach to the creative process? Because I can imagine, if I were doing this when I was like a teenager, I would have burned out. I would have just said, Yeah, we're done.

Aimee Noel  10:22

We're done. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. I have a sense of, you know, I'm not, let's say like, I'm not old. Let's say that, no old, but being older, you know, there's a sense of like, I, I've got, I got some time to make up here, and so I don't take it, I don't I don't think I take it for granted. So, like, I think there is, there is a there's a side benefit to coming to it late, is that I'm, I'm not going to stop, and then I also am in a part of my life where I am lucky to be able to pursue it. You know, I think you and I had talked briefly about, like, I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not trying to win the Pulitzer here. I'm just, I'm I just get to tell some stories, amplify some voices, bring some readers to situations they may not know about. And I'm lucky to be able to do that and know that. You know, time is precious, so keep doing it while I can.

Rodney Veal  11:28

So no, I love that we did. We had that conversation, and it's and I think about that, because I think I saw the region of the country that you grew up in in a different light through your writing and through your poetry. It's like it was like, oh, okay, all right, you're like, you're taking me on this. I it just it was when I reread your book slack, and so we're going to talk about that later. But I just when I reread it, I just realized that it was like it felt I can always tell if I'm reading something, that I can visualize the places, and I with the sensations of space, because I'm movement based, and I could see the doctor's office with the with the TB, like with the diagnosis of TB, these, these poems are are not your they just seem grounded in a different sort of language that people aren't usually accustomed to and seeing in this kind of arena. And it just was vivid. And I was like, Oh, God, I was because once you visualize, that's what typical dancers do. So I'm just kind of curious about the upbringing at Lake Erie, like in that area, like, I mean, you just which you weren't journaling as a kid. You just, this is all sensory, sort of like you must have been just an observer.

Aimee Noel  13:01

I think maybe that's what it is. And I go home often, right? So, so I think, I think you're you, you're very astute. And I appreciate, I appreciate that comment about the language it's, it has the diction I feel has a gritty sense of the of the space to it and, and, you know, a lot of metal and, and that just came from being being in the space. I often would go home my mom, you know, had still lived in the same house that I grew up in, so I was there often. And, you know, the the husks of those factories are still there, and so you still get a sense of the place. But, yeah, maybe, maybe the, maybe I was an observer. I like that, what was going on.

Rodney Veal  14:00

Oh, my God. So that's, that's why, because that's why I couldn't wait to have this conversation. Like, well, wait a minute. Like, as I was reading this, going through, Mike, what an observe, what, what, what a keen observation. That, and I'm using the wrong language for this, it's not minimal. It is you have economy of maximized language. If that makes sense. I just just think so. Just say, I fan boy out, I pay attention. I think that's important. I mean, I think you needed to know. You need to know that you Yeah, this is it hit. It hit on all pistons. It hits on all pistons.

Aimee Noel  14:45

And when you're talking about those type of characters, you're not going to, you know, I always warn people like this book is not, you know, fuzzy bunnies and rainbows, it's, it's because you're talking about specific people. People in a specific setting. And so, you know, to use elevated, you know, flowery language is not going to pull out a sense of of what I'm trying to reveal about, about the workers or the people or the lake or the environment, or, you know, the situations. So, yeah, thank you.

Rodney Veal  15:24

No, no. I mean the fact that what, and I do encourage everyone you go, find the book, obtain it, because they think it's I think it would surprise. I think that it'll be surprising to them, because we usually associate that sort of poetry is something that just just seems foreign and alien, but this didn't feel foreign and alien. This felt so far more familiar. And I mean, I just kind of curious, like, who are your influences, as far as writing poetry are, and that's just because, and I want people to hear it, so then they go, Look, I want people to go the journey with you.

Aimee Noel  16:07

Yeah, right. Well, it's interesting you say that, because there weren't a lot of working class poets who were women. So it was really hard to find. I felt like there was a void, a different perspective that needed to be. You know, heard from and so Philip Levine is one of the one of the very most famous working class poets. I read a lot of Michelle T who is very gritty, but in terms of women who were talking about this, you know, this type, when I was going through school, we didn't, you know, we didn't know upon that so and so that might be also what people will find, why they might find it surprising is because I think even the subject matter, and even that it's written by a woman, might hit differently too. So it was, it was more of, I'm going to create the book I didn't get to read.

Rodney Veal  17:19

Wow, you really did. And that's, and I think that that's, I feel like that seems to be the kind of modus operandi of everybody who makes they're trying to either create the book that they didn't see as a child, or they want to create the movement that they didn't see expressed on the stage, or the thoughts or ideas. Or I want, I want to act in this way, because I don't see it portrayed. It's like, and I and, you know, it was always funny, because just recent, I was realized we've done, oh well, over 50 of these podcasts, and it's just been like, oh my god, Lee, goodness about the I was going to use another word. It's like, I don't want to get bleeped out by Mike, like of how many different pathways there are into the creative process, right? And, and, and, I think one of the things that I find it really fascinating is the fact that you that it did, did happen later. It wasn't one of those, oh, I was five years old and I discovered words. It was like, You're fully formed in the sense, but it needed this. It needed to be you needed to be who you were at that moment for this to take hold and take effect. And I wrote something the other day about it like it's like seeing the tumblers on a lock in our DNA kind of all click into place, and that's where the sweet spot is for creativity. And like, when those tumblers fell into place for you, it was like, No, I mean, we're talking there's, you know, there's a gap of time between being in school and now, I mean, we're not gonna, we don't, we don't put ages. We don't put dates on our ages here. But I, you know, there was a gap of time between my grad school and current so that puts me at about 20 years since grad school and I was in my 40s. Yeah, we will do the math on that one. Suffice it to say there's a gap of time, right, right? But I think that exploration was rich because it was in my 40s versus versus any type of expression like this deepest way dive in my early 20s, like in late teens, early 20s. I think it's just makes more sense, and I just seem to gravitate towards people that are kind of in that sweet spot. So I'm just kind of curious about with when you because you're writing and you're doing the thing, but you're also still teaching, correct? I mean, you're still am Where are you

Aimee Noel  19:50

teaching at? So I teach at tip city, and, you know, I started a literary journal with my dear friend. Aaron Hill, we started a literary journal on campus, so that's been a nice incentive for the kids to get their voices out there too. So we have the inferno, which is campus wide literary journal, and we've won national awards with that, and kids get to see the the process of publishing and putting out a book, and the marketing that it takes and so, so yes, so I'm doing I'm doing that as well. And so not a lot of writing happens during the school year because, you know, I'm helping them find their voice as well. So, yeah, so that's a different that's a, definitely a difficult balance. But I get to, I get to work with the kids. I get to bring in other creatives to talk to them, which is really neat. We've had Taja came in, oh yeah, yeah, from lore, to help them tell their stories. And it's just, it's been great so, but not a lot of writing happens.

Ad  21:10

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Rodney Veal  21:51

you're enjoying this conversation, the art show, also hosted by Rodney veal, is available to stream anytime from anywhere on YouTube or the PBS app. It's so funny. There are a couple of visual artists that I really love, and one Wendy Wagner Harris, she's a collages and she's a school teacher, so she just, she kind of buys her time for that. When the school's years over and all of a sudden she just jumps right in. Is that what happens with you? That's just like, I can't wait till summer. Summer's coming.

Aimee Noel  22:21

Yeah, so, so it is hard to compartmentalize, like, if I'm doing my job well, my attention goes to them, and my encouragement goes to them and and what we're reading is what I'm reading, or kind of, you know, taking in as content is often what whatever I'm doing in class. So, so I'm looking forward to retirement, which is coming soon. Yes, yeah. Well, you're not here, folks.

Rodney Veal  22:55

Well, I mean, but the thing is, I think you have something that you can transition to quite easily. It's not like there's no skill. I mean, I'm like, this was I will be busy. You will be busy with this or with this writing. And so I'm just, you know, did you do your students get to bike vicariously live through your journey of making and creating? Do they know about the book?

Aimee Noel  23:18

So, yeah, really tricky situation, of course. I mean, you've read some of the books, yes, right?

Rodney Veal  23:28

Yeah, it is definitely for mature audiences who recognize, yeah, it's life. It's right, not everything is. I always wondered about that I was here like

Aimee Noel  23:40

someone may have to pause there. I'm

Rodney Veal  23:43

sorry. I don't mind that. That's pretty funny, but somebody was I was in a conversation with a dance that said there's a difference between family content and family friendly content. And it's like, oh, it says we're not going to pull punches, right? But you if you are recognizing that this is what happens to teens, this is what happens to young adults. This is this is living. This is life, which is what I just took it as, like, honestly, it's just a slice of of American life, Northeastern American life, that easily could have been translated into vignettes in a film or vignettes in a play, because you just you were so because the language is so specific, it's so vivid that it just triggers vivid imagery, craft that, like I was ready to make a movie out. Like, how do we turn this into a movie? Well, if

Aimee Noel  24:51

anybody could do it, you can make it happen. I don't know if I

Rodney Veal  24:54

could do it, but I know there's people who could. I could at least be a producer. But I mean, like. Mean, let's, I mean, it's, it's, so I get it so, but do they kind of sneak if you kids snuck in? So I've,

Aimee Noel  25:07

I've, I've heard them, and I've walked around to the other side of their laptop, and they're on my website, and I'm like, Okay, you guys stop stalking. Like, right? So I know they know, I know they know it's out there. I don't want to be in a position where I am, you know, I don't it's a slippery slope of self promotion. So I never want to, you know, to be accused of, of self promoting to a captive audience. And as you said, it's, you know, upper level content, and you know, time will come. I have former students who are incredibly supportive. They are my champions. I've learned as much from them, if you know many of the students I still can't stay in contact with, I've learned as much from them as they kind of go through their lives, and they've been incredibly supportive and and just, you know, cheerleaders in the way that I was for them, it's coming back to me, which is lovely.

Rodney Veal  26:13

Yeah, that's I it. As a former educator in the case and Dayton public school system, and I was telling someone today I got teary eyed, talking about a former student who just, she just blossomed, and she was meant to be a dance artist, just not just a performer, just like her whole life is centered around this world, and she's excelling at it, and people recognize it, it just and she just goes, Mr. Rodney, thank you. Thank you for seeing things in me I didn't see in myself. Isn't that the best feeling in the world?

Aimee Noel  26:52

Ultimate compliment? Yeah. I mean, you know for for her to come across. You talking about those tumblers? Right? Yeah, they clicked into place at the exact moment and and what validation for you and and to keep you going right and inspiring others. It's so

Rodney Veal  27:14

wonderful because it's hard. I don't think people fully understand how hard it is to teach. I think people have lived like, people love me a lot of lips like, Y'all don't know. I want to say you don't know. You don't know You clearly have not dealt with this because it is especially in this day and age, even even in a school district like tip city, it doesn't matter the school district, it is the challenge of modern life, which I think you address, because that's, I hope that's inspiring. These kids look at their language honestly, which I think your work does. It makes us look at language and ideas and thoughts honestly, and so I'm hoping you gotta get Are you supposed to be sneaking that into your kids?

Aimee Noel  28:02

No, well, when I retire,

Rodney Veal  28:06

you're going to be free. So, I mean, I I remember you're one of the few people you like. You said, I love you sent me a copy of the book, and you and I still, I have it. I'm flashing IT people up on the screen, and I love it. You said, I hope to see you at my book reading book launch at the contemporary and I went, and I want you to talk about that, because that was that shocked the hell out of me. I'm going to use that language. How many people came out?

Aimee Noel  28:39

We I think we had over, over 70 people in the gallery who attended, and it was, it was absolutely the warmest, most intimate crowd. I just, I could feel. I could just, could feel the energy coming back to me. I just, I felt so comfortable. And I just, it was an audience who I felt that they were willing to go on any journey with me that night. And I just, I'm so grateful for those who came, because that was, that was the launch and, and when we talk about a launch, right? It's a literal movement forward, right? So what a wonderful way to set me out there with the with a new book. It was just a it was an incredible evening. And when I think about it, I'm still, I'm still floating. It was just wonderful. It was

Rodney Veal  29:41

because it was a few weeks ago. I mean, I was gonna ask you, like, you still floating off of that warmth. Thing is, but the thing is, they were warm. But they, I mean, they really were hungry. Yeah, they were hungry for presentation of ideas. And I think I and, you know, there was a. Familiar, honest. But there were people who were familiar. Like, you know, my partner wasn't familiar, you know, he was like, we know you We always enjoy our conversation with you and Carrie. We're out in public. We're all, you know. We're like, Oh, they're awesome, you know, just, but never this sort of like, oh, oh, this. This was, this was beyond, so it was it was it was it was an odd to kind of hear the word spoken out loud. And I just felt like, because I always talk about, Why do people fall asleep on this parts of the country, as far as creative fodder, I just feel like it felt so authentic, like I didn't, I didn't feel, I really hate most movies that try to depict other parts of the country, other than New York and Los Angeles. I'm like, You clearly are for not from here.

Aimee Noel  30:51

You don't get it.

Rodney Veal  30:54

It is, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a depth to these regions, especially like Gary, and even Ohio, even like Ohio is, do you feel like this? It feels like, do you feel like Ohio? It's like this kind of has this sort of weird way of being the catalyst for this tumbler, because it, it's weird.

Aimee Noel  31:19

So, so here's what's great about that the audience at that launch, it's like a microcosm of what you're talking about in Ohio. There were, there were poets, of course, you know, colleagues. But there were also visual artists, dancers, also dancers. There were,

Rodney Veal  31:40

you know movie producers? Yeah, they're filmmakers.

Aimee Noel  31:44

There filmmakers there, right? There were teachers, and, you know Sharon with the dlpp was there, and, and then people who had never been to a poetry reading before, ever lives, right? Yeah, right. But they're coming out on a very cold night, and because they're invested in the community, in art in downtown, and so it is, this place is ripe for that. And, you know, I I just live on collaboration like that, the synergy of working with anybody scientists like I have so much to learn from anybody. And I feel like here in the Dayton region and Midwest, generally, people are so open to, you know, what are you working on, and how can I help that, make that happen for you? And you know, if you've got an idea, someone's going to to support it, and, and that's what I love about about being here. And I think you're right. I think that's part of the Tumblr effect. Like, that's another part that clicked into place, geography, yeah, the geography of the community,

Rodney Veal  33:07

especially, community especially, yeah, it just is, I mean, it was just such a it just kind of highlighted for me that and a lot of these conversations I'm having, which I'm very lucky to have, because I feel very fortunate that I get to have these conversations, is that everybody is is kind of clicked in and ready to just share that we all share the common thread doesn't matter if it's music, doesn't matter if it's dance, doesn't theater produce whatever that We're all into storytelling, because I think that the storytelling, and I think the authenticity of your storytelling, and everyone's that I've interviewed, has resonated enough to start a ripple effect to create more story and authentic storytelling. And I think you're like, your event was like a catalyst for people to kind of go, oh, like, we could go to an art gallery, right? Yeah, why not? Why is it not happening more, right? Like, and we're ready, I think the audience is, I think it'll and I think it's just, I think we're ready, and I think we have not given ourselves the space to do so,

Aimee Noel  34:21

yeah, I really applaud the CO for opening up that space for and they're doing a number of things that this cross pollination. And I think, I think that's what keeps, you know, the community vibrant and and there doesn't have to be these silos of creativity and definitely can be, you know, that cross pollination of ideas, and so I was very grateful when they were willing to host the launch.

Rodney Veal  34:52

Yeah, that's, it's getting to be. It's a special time, and especially in this day and age, because we're, we are. Where, where storytelling is being curtailed. You know, we know that we don't always talk about it. I try to coach it in a language that doesn't offend because they don't want, it's like, but it's, it's very real. And I always say that, you know, the artists are the canaries in the cage telling you Danger, danger, danger, that you're in danger of losing something that's right. And so what would you say to someone in this day and age who maybe hasn't kind of thought that they could get in and engage with storytelling, especially storytelling within poetry, who maybe never thought that they could jump into this room because I said, the water's fine,

Aimee Noel  35:51

come on in, right? So I think, I think the biggest thing is that you have to the advice I would give is like, you can take a risk, right? You can, nobody is going to judge you. And I think it's so hard to in this day and age when with with social media and immediate response, right? We we have our internal critic that we used to have to deal with, and now we have so much noise of external critics that I think what what art can give you is, is a space where you don't have to worry about what somebody else thinks. You just you just get to create without judgment, just to see maybe what you think or what you want to express, or just to get away from the noise. So if, if I could give them a motivation, it is that, it is that we need, we need the arts. And each person needs some way to be creative and take risks without judgment. And I think that's what art gives us, that, that ability to leave behind our critics, internal and external, and express ourselves in ways we we may not have even known we we thought of,

Rodney Veal  37:15

that is such great advice. I mean, because it's, I mean, that's why I think that's why we get along so well, because there's similar sort of ethos. I mean, it's just, it just, it's, it's, it's so easy for the internal critic to derail us. It's bad. It's bad enough. But to have this sort of, I don't know, these external, I love how you describe external noise. It is such noise that doesn't really, kind of, it just gets in the way, you know, many, in many instances. And I just don't know, I just love the fact that we have chimes. We're keeping it in, baby. I love it. I mean, that's always supposed to be, it's like, I don't believe in Yeah, there's no such a thing as perfection. So I let go that long time ago, and I just but I think there's something that what you're saying is is needs to be heard. I think it can't be said enough. And so I'm one of the things that you know, one of the things we've been doing all season is talking because when you talk about internal, external critics, I kind of equate it to the notion of that people feel like they're imposters in their own story, and it's like you can't be an imposter. You're not You're not in, you're not faking this. This is life, right?

Aimee Noel  38:34

It's your story to tell. It's your story to tell, and nobody's, nobody's gonna tell it. And you know, a lot of people say, well, that story's been done before, and, and, but not in your voice, right? Not with your perspective, and, and. So I would say, add your voice to the conversation you you'll be so mad at yourself if you if you read it, if you read your own idea on the page that somebody else did, you know, wrote, and you know, you could have, you could have added that. Yeah, I always, I think of that if I have an idea, how mad would I be if I read it by somebody else? Right?

Rodney Veal  39:19

I never thought about that way, from that perspective.

Aimee Noel  39:23

So, so, yeah, jump in and lend your, you know, lend your voice. Don't, don't worry if it's been done because it hasn't been done by you. Yeah?

Rodney Veal  39:33

Oh my God, no, no, no. That's, that's so true. So now, now that you're in, it like, you know, you do you have your process? Are you, because I'm kind of curious about creativity your process. Do you just need to block out as much time once, once the school year is done, even though I know that's gonna eventually be done. Do you just kind of take off and go someplace and write? Or do you how do you parse out your day? To get because that's, that's a lot, that's a lot pent up over the school year, right? Needs to come out,

Aimee Noel  40:08

right, right? And how do you measure, and there are different compartments of of the creative work, right? So, so I spend, I spend my flow time, where I'm just, you know, if I've got an idea, I'm just writing, almost stream of consciousness type writing. And then I tend to, like, go back through, this is all by hand, and then I go back through and highlight and then I'll craft it once it gets on the computer. But, so that's the specific process. But in terms of blocking out time, there are days where I'm just writing, and then, as you know, there's the business of creativity too, right?

Rodney Veal  40:51

Yes, there is, please say Sing, sing that from the rooftops, because I don't think people understand the business. Part is, right? Drives me nuts,

Aimee Noel  41:04

as as it does most, most of us right, because that's not what we are in this for. But it needs, it needs to be done. And so, you know, I'll block out a day where I'm answering emails or working on workshop material, or getting readings going, or, you know, checking on book sales. So that's a different hat completely, and you need to be in a different head space. So, you know, I put aside a day, you know, specific day, like today, is just the business of writing. And then certain days are just the flow of writing. And then certain days I'm I want to, I want to hang out with, you know, other creatives, and drum up some, drum up some projects. And you know, you can't sit in your room by yourself all the time. You need the energy of others. And so those are my favorite days when I get to, you know, go to a coffee shop, or go to a friend's studio, or see what project they're, you know, Gretchen's working on. We're going to be doing some collaborating. So, so that's that feeds me. And then, and then I go back to, that's Virginia Woolf would say, a room of my own and sit down and write again. So do you

Rodney Veal  42:25

have a dedicated room in your house? I do.

Aimee Noel  42:28

I do. Well, you've met my wife. So you know we, we can't share a space. We are Felix and Oscar. I'll let you guess who's who. So I totally get it, right? So I do, I do. I have my own office, and it is, it is littered with ephemera, and, you know, art pieces and just scraps of everything all over.

Rodney Veal  42:56

Yeah, every artist I know has that that's their room. Just every Are you can't. You have to step over things in my studio. I think these are reason why I had to move it into another building, because he was like, this needs to come, right?

Aimee Noel  43:16

So, yes, I do have my own, my own space, because

Rodney Veal  43:19

it's all inspiration. It's, you know, it's all, I have a hard time telling them. It's all inspiration. It's all things that kind of go. I don't know where, when it's going to hit, but so do you let the objects around you kind of guide every now and then you're like, there's a story behind the object, or your son is connected to a place or person and that then it may not strike at the moment you receive the object, but I literally found some papers rolled up from 2007 in my basement, silver paper, and I finally made work out

Aimee Noel  43:56

of it. Yes, that's so great. And then look at and then you're validated for keeping it.

Rodney Veal  44:02

See, hoarding was good, right? It's good.

Aimee Noel  44:07

Yeah, keep hang with me, Rodney, I'm an enabler for that kind of stuff. So, yeah, absolutely, it will find it will find its time, and it just does not yet. But I Yeah, well, you know, when you touch something, or you see something, it's like, you know, little fireflies in your mind. And you're thinking, this is something, and it might not be. I'm not ready for it yet, but I'm going to keep it handy. Yeah, you never know,

Rodney Veal  44:35

and it'll happen, and it just like, there it is. And, yeah, which I love, which I love, I you know, I love, I always love, and we don't spend enough time together talking about creative process. So I need to be on your list of people that comes, comes by the studio and just checks on and just to kind of step into that world, because I just the work is. Yeah, extraordinary. Thank you. Yeah, I know a lot. Well, you know, I because I don't, because I don't like something, I just go, that's nice, that's right, I'm asked for more. Don't ask for, gotta get, how do I get out of the room fast enough? No, but I just was. I'm just intrigued in the knob, and we talked about it, and I know Carrie told me nothing until summer, no collaborations until summer, but we will collaborate. I love that it's coming. I need. I just, I really want you to meet these two choreographers who I think you will hit it off with, Megan Flynn and Theresa. Theresa, I think that they are just two phenomenally gifted people that speak your language,

Aimee Noel  45:44

wonderful, wonderful. I look forward to that energy, yeah, yes,

Rodney Veal  45:49

oh yeah. It's always supposed to be. It's supposed to be. So thank you for taking time out your afternoon with me. I really do appreciate it.

Aimee Noel  45:58

Yeah, I appreciate, I appreciate the work that you do. I appreciate everyone you you introduce us to through inspired bys, and I'm just grateful that I got to be a part of it.

Rodney Veal  46:11

Yes, because people need to know you.