As I slowly adjust to the idea of really putting my nose to the grindstone in the process to truly become author and writer and not just random blogger musing about the droppings of my mind I’m realizing the immediate struggle that I gloss over every time I spend any significant time away from the keyboard: how to state, refine and close and idea under a timeframe? What can I work in, what can I convey and what should I be striving for? I know how it works with more researched pieces, simply put forth draft after draft until the idea simply cannot help but spill forth. Shorter timeframes hasten that process and lower the number of drafts that time will allow, but even a full day allows for idea and development that immediate content simply won’t allow. But before I worry about how I am going to present, I wonder about a greater question, as readers do we even know what and how presentation works with the content we take in?
What kinds of ideas can we present when we only have 30 minutes or less? No links allowed, and quotes don’t count. How does this differ from the other content we take in, and how should we treat what we read? How much less does the first blush give us than the “whole story” (assuming we even pretend we can put it to words)? Questions worth asking though, from both an author side and a reader side – what can we expect from each other? Is it enough to just bring up an idea, or talk around it, or can we actually get somewhere under a deadline. The answer of course depends in no small part at how skilled the author is in constructing and presenting an argument, but it’s worth paying heed to exactly what you are reading and how long it likely took to write before you let the words presented affect what’s going on in our heads.
Not everything is meant to be taken as the final word and it’s certainly worth considering the different reasons that we read. While I will certainly do some injustice to all the ways we consume words, I would say that we could all agree that Tweets are mostly thoughtless, and that academic papers tend to sit on the other side of the depth and organization spectrum but what about the words that clock in somewhere in the middle? What about thoughtful status updates, reviews that link to an article, reflections on what we find in our news feeds?
And what about Tweeting? There’s nothing inherent to the medium that renders them less educational, interesting or newsworthy. When we talk about tweeting though we’re talking about two different reasons to check our Twitter feeds regularly: one as time sensitive method of news delivery and the other acting as a “best of” feed from our friends and celebrities, a filter though which we decide what is relevant and from where. There’s options I’m missing and I’m only picking on Twitter because it is convenient: for each method of information presentation there are banes and boons and in addition to being aware of author perspective and bias we also must take note of the limitations and abilities of the structure within which we are reading and writing.
It’s important to also remember that everything we read has an effect on our perspective; none of our experiences go unnoticed. Which makes it all the more important that we understand the why of what we are reading as much as the actual what it is that we read. If we read the musings of someone we respect it is easy to think that what they are communicating reflects their full and serious opinion, a dangerous proposition when information is taken out of context.
Yes, context applies not on to the ways the words relate to each other but the medium through which they are presented and the parties involved. For instance, those who know me long enough will at some point hear me mention that I think in one or another we are just wasting time until our heart stops beating. This is a freeing concept, as I think it affords us the opportunity to be true to and follow what we believe is most important: none of us are so powerful we can wipe out Earth, no being is at the top of the food chain. As a species we haven’t even gotten more than a mile into the 7900 we would need to drill all the way though and we can easily recall the myriad ways in which all organic life could easily from our planet. Those who do not know me, or don’t see the freeing perspective of knowing that we are all just little specks of cosmic dust or who skim the words may come out very disappointed. On the other hand, someone could easily take that idea for more nefarious means, as exculpation for poor behavior (“Nothing I do matters, let’s go throw some eggs at orphans!) or worse.
We are all at risk for misunderstanding what we are reading and why we are reading it; pretty sure that’s why every so often someone will go bonkers after reading “Catcher in the Rye.” It’s also why we get angry when people tweet dumb things, how sound bites get blown way out of proportion and why if we’re really in a bad mood we can take a lover’s two page mash note and get offended by their statement about loving us despite the ten pounds we’ve managed to put on.
This blog for instance is meant as a way of hopefully breaking you out of the standard ideas you fine readers may be thinking today while loosely conveying some of the fun things that pass between my ears throughout the day. It isn’t meant to be my definitive work, and certainly isn’t my final word on anything. I am working to create those sites, so please just enjoy what you read and if you have questions comments or concerns I will be happy to reply to any and all. Please let me know your thoughts in general, every little bit of feedback is welcome.
But I digress; this isn’t about me it’s about knowing why we’re doing what we’re doing. The next time you pick up the printed word (or any media for that matter) take a moment to consider what you’re getting out of it before you think too hard about what Adonis DNA actually is when Charlie Sheen tweets it or think too little about the status update of your friend saying how alone they feel today. It also points to the larger question for another day – in the same way that we forget to give appropriate thought that that which we read we apply the same kinds of misunderstandings to the greater spectrum of our experience. If we don’t know how we want to sort the moments that make up our lives how we possibly pretend to make sense of any sort of larger picture?
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