G and I found a beautiful place to live in Syracuse. We'll have two awesome roommates and our own floor of a house as well as 2 porches, and a kitchen that rivals the White House's kitchen.
I sold G on Syracuse. Thank God it was 80 degrees all weekend. He'll know the truth soon enough but for now, he likes it. Yea.
It was great seeing John, who put us up for the weekend. We had some interesting conversations about his phd subject - gender relations in the media. We got to talking about the purpose of the internet in context of social networking. How online, people can be and act completey different than they do in real life. If you're scared to be what you want in life, or it's not socially acceptable, etc. you are good to go online.
Also, to take it a step further, online personna is all about fame. We are raised in a celebrity, fame obsessed world. No wonder we feel we need it to validate ourselves, or be feel important. All these people doing things - blogging, postinng photos, videos, twitter - it's all people's kind of depressing attempts at fame. To be known. Funny thing is, here we got a whole world of people feeling good about themselves and important because hey! 100 people stumbled across my twitter or blog or whatever today. It's all actually an illusion because while you're there thinking you're famous, everyone else is doing the same thing, thus "fame" is suddenly accessible to all. And we all know what happens when there's a glut of anything; it becomes meaningless. Less rarity = less importance.
Online just made fame meaningless, just makes celebrity a cheap hoax that everybody has access to.
Though people go on living on this 2-d world and not really thinking about all the time they won't get back for doing it. Kind of scary, ey?
Then John goes and says it's all because people are afraid of mortality. I guess what isn't?
I think it's a sign that I accidently deleted my entire AIM buddy list the other day. You won't see me there anymore. And this blog will be updated less, too. Maybe some lit. here or there.
Arf says it's hard to make it in the lit. world. Because people fizzle out and it's all about persistance. I'm going to make it because I'm more than a bulldog, Arf, I'm a lion. And I'm going to do it the classy way, no cutting corners, no bloated ego. I'll take hits and keep going.
Been thinking a lot about poetry and wrting some of it. Man, I love wordplay. I love the beauty of a finely crafted line. Can't wait to get this lit. ball rolling for real for real.
For now just waiting patiently as possible, watching my man rip up the guitar; he's got the soul and the talent, I hope he has the drive. No jealously here of his talents, just love and support. G is the real thing.
2 comments:
People are really hung up about being arrogant, having an ego, being self-absorbed. I think there's a certain amount of ego involved in being a writer, or anyone who expresses themselves. No good piece of writing starts without the idea that you have something to say that you think people will want to, or even should, read.
I know everyone thinks the internet democratizes things too much, that it gives anyone with a computer the right to pretend they're a writer. But in times like these, you have to stick to your guns even more. You have to believe that your stuff is worth reading, because if you won't believe it, no one will.
I couldn't care less if your future plans involve the internet or not. I just want you to consider this much; farmers don't feel bad about selling produce, and clothes designers don't feel bad about selling clothes. Writing is what you do, and it's what you're good at. You shouldn't feel bad about wanting people to read it. Take pride in it. You should.
I’d like to agree and add to that, as I've been thinking a lot about this topic lately.
You're not wrong that many people use online social networking tools for attention and validation. Look at pretty pictures of me! Today I ate cranberries! I WANT SO DESPERATELY TO BE SOMEBODY! etc. But I think there's more to it than that, especially for writers.
First of all, there's a reason that new social networking tools attract people in creative industries - writers of all kinds, performers, comedians, anyone who claims to have something to say and seeks to stand out in an impossibly large crowd creatively/professionally, etc. Perhaps it's that we're all desperately seeking a slice of fame, but be careful not to confuse that with what I think is more likely – we’re seeking to capitalize on the marketing power of the medium. Until recently, I have been ignoring Twitter, thinking it absurd. Then I watched some of my friends gain audiences in the thousands, which they then use to alert people about things they have created, which then gain more widespread attention than they ever would have otherwise. And not in an unsolicited way - people choose to follow you and see what you wish to share. Seeking a wider audience for your work is not necessarily a sad attempt at fame. At the very least, it's not necessarily sad. If it's there and you can use it to your advantage, why shy away from it? Why apologize for seeking an audience for your work, if you’re proud of it?
I've always been a shameless self-promoter, as are many writer/performers, but I don't find that culture to be mutually exclusive with creativity and genuine human interaction. It's simply an understood part of the game. Is it still at least partly about fame and validation? Oh, sure, fine. But anyone who creates anything is seeking some of that to begin with, on some level -- even just recognition by peers -- whether they have a computer to help them or not.
Maybe the above all goes without saying, and you're just speaking about people that say "I FED MY CAT TODAY!" to the world without having anything else to share or reason to share it. In those instances, I suppose I agree with you.
While you can look at Twitter at ruining humanity ("reducing our lives to a 140-character sentence! How banal! How utterly meaningless! Everyone is terrified of loneliness and technology only gives us the ILLUSION of togetherness, while making us more alone than ever!" et al), you can also see beauty in its simplicity. It's not about profiles, groups, photos, quizzes, tagging, interests, fan pages, and all that filler -- it's just about reading a series of quick updates from people from whom you’re interested to hear.
Is it great for writing? Nay. Personally I'd love to see blogs fall by the wayside, and have the Internet separate into two more defined halves: legitimate long-form written content, and snippet-based social networking. I do tend to feel that the half-researched, lazily-structured, pour-anything-onto-the-page habits that are encouraged by the blogging craze are generally bad for writing, for news, for culture, for people. But, absurd as it all may be, don’t write all social networking off as a manifestation of vanity and existential despair. It’s a valuable tool for people with something to share.
There couldn’t be a more ironic video for me to have posted today: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1909386
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