I picked this one up at the Strand the other day, after reading her interview with Jonny Depp in Vanity Fair and liking the way she writes. I read it pretty quickly, while crashing at my sister’s place in the West Village. ‘Just Kids’ is partially an ode to NYC, so it was nice to be here while reading it. I read most of it while soaking up the sun on the Highline, and yes, it is February but the city has been amazingly warm for the past couple of days.
I don’t usually take notes while reading, but I did during this one. I now have a long list of places to checkout, books to read, and artists to research; let’s just say, this one made me feel slightly lacking. Smith just had such an interesting life, at such a young age. She was younger than I am when she moved into the city alone, penniless and serendipitously met the man who was to become the ‘artist of her life’ (one of my favourite lines). Soon after, she began making art and moved within an incredible circle of artists. I felt especially low after reading this one because I am at a point in time where I really don’t know what I’m going to do next, and have no real inspiration. In no way did Smith have it easy. Her early years sound so cold and, hungry… but it seems like she was never lacking in inspiration. That’s not even it. She clearly lays out that there were periods when she was without motivation, unable to write, or draw… but her life just seems so rich, in retrospect I guess. I think that is largely because of where she was living with, and who she was surrounded by. Bumping into Ginsberg in a deli, sitting in on Janis Joplin’s jam sessions, and, oh ya, having Robert Mapplethorpe as your life partner offers a certain amount of creative stimulation.
In the course of the story Smith tells, the scene in NY changes. The era of The Chelsea as a safe harbor for starving artists ends, and an era of great political apathy begins. I am sitting in Grounded right now, and a little old woman just shouted “bring back the 60’s – protests,” as she walked out the door. How appropriate. Although, after reading ‘Just Kids,' I feel like for something really good to happen, we’ve gotta bring back the 70’s.
