Who Cares If You Read This?
Well where to start? How about in the middle? I have an Uncle, age 92, who also likes to blog. His are sent--that is, snail-mailed-- to various family members- this nephew included- on a more-or-less weekly basis and are basic accounts of what he's up to. Always an entertaining read. Reflections of what Charles Emerson Winchester once attributed to Col Potter as "gentle good humor". On occasion, he will comment on the state of the world, or a particular politician, but always gracefully. An ideological tap dance rather than any 'heavy-hoofed' pronouncements.
There was a blog of mine awhile back which was about the family(called My (Ig)noble Genes, should you care to read it) which my cousin- his daughter- forwarded to him. He wrote about it in his weekly missive, which kinda tickled me. Said that he enjoyed it but wouldn't feel comfortable being that introspective in a place where the whole world can see it.
Well the whole world can see it! Potentially. But in reality, this comic strip doesn't get a whole lot of traffic. As a matter of fact, I'd say hardly any. So with that in mind, it's easier to bare one's soul, what with virtually nobody watching. I have a friend who writes blogs that are sometimes searingly introspective, one of which(about our hometown)was so much so--at least to me--that I had to write a blog of my own about it. I sent it to her and she wrote back saying, in effect, "man, I sometimes forget other people read my stuff".
As a musician, sometimes I've played my best when there was hardly anybody there--or even nobody there. Yes, I'm sorry to say, I've played to nobody! But at the same time I'm glad to say, since I played better..
And so it is with blogging. Huh, I just thought of the title of this blog, right here and now. Sort of a take-off on an essay written many years ago by composer Milton Babbitt, called "Who Cares if You Listen?"
I don't care how damned esoteric you consider yourself to be. You still turn out your stuff with the idea of some kind of audience for it. But in some cases--mine, at any rate--you're more effective if you behave as if there was nobody in the room but you. The audience is still there, but instead of being within the four walls, they're between your ears.
There was a blog of mine awhile back which was about the family(called My (Ig)noble Genes, should you care to read it) which my cousin- his daughter- forwarded to him. He wrote about it in his weekly missive, which kinda tickled me. Said that he enjoyed it but wouldn't feel comfortable being that introspective in a place where the whole world can see it.
Well the whole world can see it! Potentially. But in reality, this comic strip doesn't get a whole lot of traffic. As a matter of fact, I'd say hardly any. So with that in mind, it's easier to bare one's soul, what with virtually nobody watching. I have a friend who writes blogs that are sometimes searingly introspective, one of which(about our hometown)was so much so--at least to me--that I had to write a blog of my own about it. I sent it to her and she wrote back saying, in effect, "man, I sometimes forget other people read my stuff".
As a musician, sometimes I've played my best when there was hardly anybody there--or even nobody there. Yes, I'm sorry to say, I've played to nobody! But at the same time I'm glad to say, since I played better..
And so it is with blogging. Huh, I just thought of the title of this blog, right here and now. Sort of a take-off on an essay written many years ago by composer Milton Babbitt, called "Who Cares if You Listen?"
I don't care how damned esoteric you consider yourself to be. You still turn out your stuff with the idea of some kind of audience for it. But in some cases--mine, at any rate--you're more effective if you behave as if there was nobody in the room but you. The audience is still there, but instead of being within the four walls, they're between your ears.
posted by Roger U Roundly at 9:28 PM
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