Sunday, November 27, 2011

Great quotes (part 2)

So I was on a plane the other day and I was reading the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell.  Great book.  Highly recommend it.  Only problem?  I finished the book and I still had 4 hours left on the plane.  And I couldn't sleep.  Fantastic.  Okay, what the #$*& do I do now?  Hmmm.

Oh yeah - I have some old This Rock magazines stashed in my backpack.  That should kill some time.  So, every issue there is a section with discussion on a selected piece of artwork.  There was a letter in the May/June 2011 issue responding to the previous issue’s art column, discussing the idea that art for its own sake just for the artist to declare his existence is primitive.  Which brings me to my great quote:
The bare "assertion of the self’s presence" which is embedded in the creation and experience of art is therefore not so much a "primitive" but a primal, essential, and fundamental sort of communication.  And if it is barbaric for artists to assert their existence that way, then God, who sounds the great I AM through all Creation, is the chief Barbarian of them all.
                                                                                                  - Michael Schrauzer

Awesome.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Love to hate ... or do I?

So ... I found this site that I love to hate.  Sure, the stories are pretty entertaining and all, but the tone of the administrator and the commenters is just so cold and catty - ick.  It's fun to read the commenters and think to myself, "Thank goodness I am not an awful, ugly, judgmental person like everyone here."  I know it's not really the best habit to be in, but whatever.

But then out of the blue, here comes this story, where the admin begins by saying,
Given the sterile and 2 dimensional nature of online publishing, I probably come across as stiff, rigid, a party pooper extraordinaire. People who have met me in real life are surprised that I laugh uproariously and easily, I find joy in the simplest of things and I love to have fun.
Okay - maybe we are getting somewhere.  Interesting that this woman chose to comment about how she really isn't thus ugly, cold person in real life.  I wonder why she would feel the need to do this.  Maybe because she really is a human being after all?

Anyway, I was not about to let this chance pass.  So I submitted the following comment:
Admin, the reason you come off as stiff and rigid is not just because blogging is two-dimensional.  It is sometimes the things you say and how you say them that come across as a bit cold.
The most recent example that comes to mind were your comments on Relatively Bratty .  The OP only mentioned money at all as evidence to show that the aunt's assertion that she had somehow supported the OP in the past is baseless.  However, for whatever reason, that is not how you chose to read it.  When I read the story, and then your comment (and the odd focus of your comment in relation to the story), the impression that gives is of a cold woman jealously guarding her money.
It can also help if you start positive by describing what one should do and the underlying principles behind what one should do before transitioning into an example of "what not to do."
No offense intended - the fact that you mentioned how you think people see you tells me that this is somewhat on your mind, and implies that perhaps you are not totally satisfied with the way you present yourself online.
Who knows if it will be approved and visible on the site.  Probably not.  However, if it is, I will take that as a sign that she is a human being that recognizes that it is possible to present herself a bit differently.  I await with bated breath ....

UPDATE 11/21/11: The admin has approved quite a few comments, but has not approved mine.  I doubt that she will.  Oh well.  She asked for the commentary and I gave it to her.  /shrug.  I did what I could.