Zaq Baker Finds Self-Worth Amid Mental Health Struggles, Writing First Novel
“There’s a lot of danger in saying ‘I feel better now,’ because I [wrote a novel or recorded an album]. There’s like a tenuousness to that, especially in music. [Those feelings of pride] have an arc that goes down eventually.” -Zaq Baker
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In 1971, the federal government led by none other than austerity enthusiast President Richard Nixon, decreed a “war on cancer.” While that fight is far from over, the National Institutes of Health reported in April of this year that cancer deaths had dropped from 2001 through 2022, even with the public health crisis instigated by COVID.
In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first known cases of AIDS in America. Citizens united and demonstrated the best versions of themselves during that period. They created huge AIDS quilts, staged charity walks and distributed red ribbons representing the deaths of about 700,000 Americans at the time. Since then, rates of the disease and the fatalities it causes have dropped dramatically.
In the early 2010s, researchers began noticing physically, emotionally and socially devastating effects caused by what became referred to as “the U.S. mental health crisis. And yet, despite the declining rates of cancer and AIDS, crippling mental health issues are showing no signs of abating: The National Institute of Mental Health reported that the percentage of U.S. adults suffering from mental illness rose from 18 percent in 2011 to 21.6 percent … in 2020. And there’s every reason to believe that the number has risen dramatically in a five-year span in which suicide, is so common, news of such deaths are met with a collective shrug.
All this begs the question of why Americans haven’t united to eradicate, invest in prevention or at least slow down the rate of mental illness. Discrimination toward people suffering from mental health dilemmas is patently obvious in work settings, as employers can often fire workers without cause or explanation. The cultural fragmentation that exists everywhere from inside our homes to the public square hasn’t done us any favors either. These days, strangers are more inclined to stare at their phone than say hello to passersby. This compounding callousness results in fewer people carrying a heavier burden if they want to do good in the world.
Rather than make any effort whatsoever to address and perhaps even lower the rates of mental health crises is hitting this aiing demographic particularly hard – and the situation will become far, far more severe in the years ahead. The Trump Administration turned the ship in exactly the wrong direction by cutting $11.4 billion in funding for addiction and mental health in March, followed by $1 billion in cuts to school mental health grants in May.
From all indications, solving the mental health debacle will, once again, require everyday Americans to stand up and act while their elected representatives are asleep at the wheel. Clearly, doctors and physicians and university systems will play a critical role in analyzing data and developing treatments to address the mental health anguish experienced by one in five American adults. But they can’t achieve their mission without help from artists, one of the last cohorts that Americans generally support and respect. Artists can provide a critical bridge between what people are feeling and what is or isn’t being done about it.
Musicians who transparently and sincerely inform the public about their personal struggles with mental illness are the most prized members for building society in a given community and reassuring people who are going through pain and anguish that they are not alone. Even so, because Amercans specialize in skepticism, it often takes an artist putting themselves out there to give people who are suffering the hope they need to continue living.
Enter Zaq Baker, a mutiinstrumentait, director and performer who is spreading the gospel of joy and hope in Minneapolis. While he won’t admit it, Baker is a pillar of his community. Moreover, he has transcended fear of judgment so he can feel free enough to talk about his own mental health struggles in word and song. The musician, a member of a whopping 10 bands, factors discussion about mental fitness into his creative endeavors, which these days are primarily making music and writing.
Baker was quick to point in a recent interview with The Bad Penny that his recently released debut novel, Unspectacular, is a work of fiction. He has a litany of nonfiction books to his name, but in some ways, the novel speaks truer to the performative version of Baker we haven’t yet seen.
Unspectacular revolves around relatable, well-intentioned, inspiring musicians caught between the proverbial pickle of trying to decide whether to pursue their lifelong artistic ambitions or opt for more solid careers in the corporate world. In a fitting encapsulation of Baker’s honesty, good nature and light humor, we witness what people commonly refer to as a “personality.”
Baker’s is shown in all its glory in a disclaimer featured in the early part of the book:
“Unspectacular is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s overactive imagination. Any resemblance to actual rock venues, hijinks, schools and offices (drab or otherwise), careers (failed or otherwise), or persons (living or dead,) is entirely coincidental,’
Almost painfully humble, Baker didn’t boast or dwell much to The Bad Penny about his accolades and achievements, which are too numerous to be listed here. But a critical milestone in the ambitious artist’s career is demonstrated by the occasion when he delivered the keynote address at a Youth Mental Health Day conference that drew 730 attendees.
“The central issue that I have, which comes up in the book and also comes up in the music that I will be releasing this year … is my self-worth,” Baker disclosed. “My concept of self is very much bound up in my creative output, the quality of that output and how that output is received.”
He continues: It’s wild because I feel like there’s a lot of danger in saying, ‘I feel better now,’ because I [wrote a novel or recorded an album]. There’s a tenuousness to that, especially in music. [Those feelings of pride] have an arc that goes down eventually.”
He further qualified, in his low-timber voice: “But, then again, you shouldn’t have your self-worth completely tied to your career.”
When The Bad Penny caught up with Baker, he was about to shove off for a tour promoting Unspectacular. While he appears to ooze tranquility, one could almost sense that anxiety over the tour and packing for it was getting to him.
Our discussion of hitting the road segued into a conversation about how he handles meeting strangers. His answer might surprise those who make judgments that are typically uninformed.
“ What I managed to channel through some of the fictional characters [in Unspectacular] was what it might be like for someone who is really tightly wound or who has an almost playful misanthropy that they have trust issues,” he remarked. “That doesn’t really draw from my own experience. But in trying to map out a character that has that relationship with family psychology vis-a-vis music, it wasn’t too much of a leap.
All in all, while Unspectacular isn’t exactly a document of his personal life, like any solid work of fiction, the author and readers alike learn more about themselves by consuming such a book as Unspectacular.
“I got to know myself better through this book,” Baker said. “I wasn’t trying to [solve problems] that were unsettled at various stages in my life. But being able to stick up for people and having relationships built out of that … that’s a source of self-worth that doesn’t need to be related to my artistic body of work. There’s so much of me in that [novel,] so that’s good.”
Pick up a copy of Zaq Baker’s Unspectacular at one of the fine bookstores he recommends on his website.
The Bad Penny (beta) 
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