Bill Bruce
Oyster River Pages: How is your art or writing informed by current social and/or political issues?
Bill Bruce: We are witnessing the consequences of centuries of systemic oppression and racism. We are witnessing the soul-crushing effects of unparalleled greed, police brutality, abject poverty, as well as the calculated rejection of morality, justice, and the rule of law. We are witnessing a global pandemic without honest, impartial leadership. So, at this point, very little in my life isn’t informed by those issues.
ORP: We often think of ourselves as writing or making art, but the process often changes or makes us as well. How do you feel like your writing or art makes you?
BB: We all justify and rationalize our actions and beliefs. Whatever they may be. Every one of us is guilty of it. I guess it’s in our DNA. Regardless, we give ourselves excuses and defend our thoughts and behaviors in ways we don’t often afford others. I find this psychology incredibly fascinating. It forces me not to judge even the most egregious thought or act a character may exhibit. Which means, there can be no villains. And while that thought isn’t novel, it’s helped me understand, or try hard to understand, why people act and say the things they do. And then try to write with a greater level of clarity and truth.
ORP: What do you hope readers or viewers of your piece take from it?
BB: That we need to really listen to one another. Even though we love and care for someone, we shouldn’t assume that we somehow know what’s best for them.
ORP: How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your relationship to art and writing, either in the creation of it or the consumption of it?
BB: People are fighting, literally fighting, over wearing a mask. When did personal freedom override care and concern for the greater community’s health and safety? Why is it so hard for someone to wear a square of fabric to help insure another—whose health may be compromised and susceptible—from unwitting transmission? Why are so many willing to surrender basic compassion and empathy towards all in support of one man, one party, whose motive is pure selfish greed? (Perhaps I was wrong about the no villains thing.)
The division this administration facilitated, however, has offered one glaring revelation: people no longer feel the need to hide behind false facades; they now feel validated to show their true colors.
And that revelation is shaping the story I am working on now.
ORP: Do you believe that hope is a luxury, a responsibility, a danger, or something else? Why?
BB: I believe it’s a necessity. It’s the engine for change. I hope others feel the same.
