The Green Wave

February 22, 2009

My Space Book

Filed under: Pleasures — Tags: , , — kate @ 12:22 pm

In the last few weeks I’ve taken the plunge and joined MySpace and FaceBook. Consequently, I have been plunged into a whirl of social networking much like the tornado that carried Dorothy to Oz! I’m enjoying it, though I do sometimes find myself wondering what it’s all about. And I get confused about where I am from time to time, making “My Space Book” – an ingenious quip from my friend Kathleen – all the more fitting.

For nearly two years I’ve been told that any musician worth her salt needs to have a MySpace account. And now I have one. I’m not really sure why it is so vital. I told a friend, “It gives you the sense that a lot is going on, but you’re not really sure what that is exactly.” So far, the most useful thing that has happened is that I’ve discovered a really cool Boston-based Irish trad band called Rud Eile (check them out!). And it’s nice that people who don’t ordinarily see my gig calendar see it at myspace. And it’s fun to send quickie comments to people I really like and admire, and to get those lovely bits of flattery and friendship in my comments section. It’s nice to think that someone, somewhere is listening to my tracks. But beyond that? I’m not sure.

Facebook is another animal entirely. (You and every other adult person in the Milky Way probably know all about these things already; bear with my bewilderment, please). I am now in six-word-contact with people I knew 20 years ago in highschool. We write, “Hello! How was the last 20 years? Cute kids!” for the most part. I’ve become a fan of Garsides, my hometown ice-cream stand, of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Arthur Rackham, and of my friend Nancy’s cool jewelry shop, Isabel Designs. I have received cyber-flowers, cyber-dogfood, and cyber “UK Foods You Can’t Be Without.” Now I have sent these things, too. I have lost my first cyber-wrestling-match. I have been nominated as a “Nice person” and not made the cut (thank heavens; please, someone call me wicked, call me wierd, call me anything but the white-bread word nice). I have read what my friends are doing and thinking, and I have read what people who are supposedly my friends are doing and thinking.

I am left with questions:

  • What is a friend, really?
  • Does high school ever really end?
  • Do people change?
  • Does the hunger for acceptance ever abate?
  • What am I hoping is going to happen with all this typing?
  • What CAN happen?

Questions and bewilderment aside, though, I think I’ll press on because the truth is, I am distracted and entertained quite pleasantly for the moment. After that is anyone’s guess!

If you have great uses for these sites, have made great discoveries, or have recommendations on how best to use and enjoy them, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

February 15, 2009

Making the Most of a Spark

Filed under: Poetry — kate @ 1:41 pm

Recently I’ve been inivted to join a few creative groups that comment on their members’ work, and I’ve been thinking about ways that people help and hurt each other in these sorts of groups.

I find myself poised between eagerness for that brilliant sparking that can happen in creative, productive groups, and reluctance to expose my solitary spark to potentially extinguishing winds. I’ve experienced both of these in the past. I’ve soared on the up-draft of great group energy and encouragement, and I’ve gone completely dormant for nearly two years on one devastating occasion. And yet, the idealist in me believes in people’s goodness, their desire to foster one another. So here I am now, peeking round the corner: Is that a smile or a grimace? Is that a jig or a dirge? A caress or a slap?

As I’ve written many times, what’s most important to me in my own creative life is keeping going. This is how I decide what’s best for me: if a group or association whets my apetite to create, I stay; if it doesn’t, I leave.

This is not to lay all the blame or the credit for my feelings upon the group, either. Sometimes the success or failure of these groups to meet my criterion is merely chemistry or timing. I can get just as antsy as the next poet or songwriter. I have my own sticking places, my own stubborn spots. But I’ve also learned what helps me in working with other people and what I’d run miles to avoid:

Not for Me

  • the belief that there is some objective standard, some “right” or preferred way of doing things
  • ad-hominem attacks (as from the poet who told me I’d “have to become a better person” in order to continue to write poetry)
  • competition, hierarchy, bossiness, temper-tantrums, sarcasm or mockery of any kind

Count Me In

  • the understanding that much of criticism is simple preference, which leads to a certain lightness and a tendency to focus on the subjective aspects of reading or listening (“I loved this, but I found myself confused here” or “For me, the hotspot is here but I felt the energy flag just here…”)
  • more attention on what works than on what doesn’t
  • honest desire to help the creator meet her own goal for the work
  • an emphasis on productivity
  • kindness, collegiality, friendliness, respect, light-heartedness

Essentially, I want good company in my creative life, and I want to provide that to my fellow creators. I want to help other people love their work so that they keep going and give it the very best attention and skill they have, and I want that fostering in return.

I want to make the most of my spark and enjoy the warmth and light of my friends making the most of theirs, too.

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