Dear angry reader,
I learned recently of your dismay at my column “Gobble Gobble Gobble.”
First, let me acknowledge that I broke a self-imposed rule with that particular blog. No one really enjoys listening to a scolding writer, and I’m afraid that particular submission sounded rather grumpy. Can I plead holiday overload? (And for the other six of you that read the blog, yes, I realize that I’ve written at least one other blurb that sounded aggressively whiny, but I’m trying to do better).
Second, I wasn’t clear in my brief essay, a cardinal sin for almost all writers. Here’s what I meant to say. Advertisers encourage us to consume, whether we’re snarfing gas (on a global level) or nachos (on an individual level). At the same time, the ad sellers persuade us to stare fixedly at televisions and computer screens, ensuring that we see more commercials for candy and soft drinks and monster cars, spending less time with each other. To improve the situation and avoid the global and individual consumption, we should spend more time with friends and relatives. We should focus on citizenship. When we spend less time watching commercials, we will have fewer voices selling us on gas or nachos. Good results will follow.
Third, I concur with virtually all of Allen’s response column. After selling us garbage, those same advertisers are working to make us feel miserable about our bodies. When they succeed, they sell more magazines (Have rock-hard abs! Just by reading this article!! And buying a four-year subscription to this magazine!!!) and more diet books (Lose 95 lbs in Three Days on the pickle-and-ice-cream diet!!!!). In other words, our culture sells us junk food, and then they sell us junk solutions (and they also commit atrocities with punctuation, but that’s my teacher personality squeezing out).
The actual solution, as Allen stated, is to listen to our bodies. Listen when they ask for fruit, for tofu turkey, for exercise, for rest.
So, dear angry reader, I ask you now for one favor: if you are still upset with me, please post a message on the response board. Argue with me. Point out where I’ve been a doofus. Vent.
But do continue to read Blog Further. Even if I occasionally veer into a flailing diatribe, the other writers will always steer you well. And I’ll do my best not to sound whiny.
Sincerely,
Robin
Robin Follet lives, writes, and cartoons in North Carolina.
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December 16th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Robin,
It’s funny you should say that the other writers will steer our readers well, since I feel that it was you who steered me right when I began flailing as editor.
When Jamie first asked me to edit Blog Further, I felt I had been given the keys to a big, new shiny car, with all the bells and whistles. And like any first time car owner, I piled all my friends into it and set out for what promised to be a fun and exciting road trip.
There was only one problem: not only had I never steered a blog before, I didn’t even realize steering was necessary. Things were fine as long as the road before us was clear, well marked, and straight. But as is always the case with blogs, we soon encountered what seemed like an innocuous bend in the road. My attempt to navigate that turn, much to my horror, sent us careening toward a pedestrian who just moments ago was admiring our shiny blog and how masterfully I drove it. The pedestrian-reader shouted in justifiable anger, and panicking, I turned the wheel, but overcorrected, sending us toward a muddy ditch and jeopardizing you, Robin, as you sat dumbstruck in the passenger seat— not to mention the rest of the crew huddled in the back wondering why they’d ever agreed in the first place to board this deathtrap. No doubt, my well-intended but inept steering (I must have resembled Toad from Wind in the Willows) would have sent the entire blog into a tailspin… had not you, Robin, place a steadying hand on the wheel.
Robin, you helped me understand my various roles as editor, fellow blogger, and friend, how those roles might complement one another, how they might clash, and how I might have negotiated that bend in the road differently. In doing so, you taught me how to steer our blog more smoothly.
I apologize to you (and our readers) for my poor driving skills. And I thank you for your generosity, patience, and understanding as I endeavor to become better.
Your contrite Toad,
Allen
December 16th, 2008 at 11:26 am
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