"I don't understand your post."
--unnamed friend and rare Loud Time reader
"Ouch."
--Dave
"Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy."
--Proverbs 27:6
I think it's fair to say I have a higher opinion of my writing than is merited. An article I published last year (it was edited and everything!) elicited one comment from a reader: "You make no sense." I think about that comment a lot. The differences between it and the one from my unnamed friend (above), however, are manifold.
My friend approached me in private, not in an anonymous comment in front of dozens of readers.
My friend asked me to explain myself, rather than telling me I'm an idiot and disappearing into the Internet.
My friend is nice; whoever wrote that other comment is a weasel.
In theory I'd rather hear constructive criticism than vain praise, but really, who am I kidding? In reality, I'm so vain I think this post is about me.
So feel free to rip me up and down here at Loud Time, because I need a little humility in my life. But in the immortal words of Jewel, "Please be careful with me; I'm sensitive and I'd like to stay that way."
Both Inspiration and Cautionary Tale: Excerpts from Middling
What follows is an excerpt from the Winter 2021 edition of Middling, my quarterly newsletter on music, books, work, and getting older. I'...
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I've recently begun reading the collected novels and short stories of Sherlock Holmes as written by Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm a trend-... -
I've been moving slowly through How Music Works, the colossal tome by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, over the past few months. My ...
7 comments:
*taps microphone* Um...Hi David...Pete from Normal here. Long time reader, 3rd time poster.
It sounds lame, I know, but for the post-college (and getting more post-college every day) it's nice to keep it 'real'; it's refreshing to keep wrapping your mind around life in the post 30 world. It's a real fun read eh. :)
Hopefully, it doesn't stroke your ego too much :)...
I don't understand why people have fence posts. It's not like they keep out the wind.
you quoted jewel. i don't think i'll ever ever ever come back here again.
otherwise, good stuff. thanks.
The majority of posts are from guys, but you spend time quoting Jewel and discussing Pride and Prejudice. It seems to me that there is a misalignment between the subject matter of your posts and your audience. It could be that the men that post here are really in touch with their emotions and can handle talking about relationships, chick flicks, and the pop-poetry of Jewel. May I suggest more posts about any of the man-animal hybrids (i.e., Bat-man and Spider-man)or movies that shaped your adolesence (i.e., Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Last Starfighter). An alternative would be to post on something obscure, such as ambidextrous scallywags or squirreling dervishes. If our posts continue it may just prove that we don't have anything else to do with our time but wait for the pearls of wisdom and insight to drop from your fingers and onto our monitors.
I'm on it. Much love to Jewel.
#1. Anon Poster did not call you an idiot.
#2. Could you be a teensy weensy bit too sensitive?
#3. Rick from the Coffee Blog made me write this.
Let it go, Rick. Thanks for stopping by, Michelle. Are you Rick's hired muscle or something?
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