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this should be my favourite part of the board. as far as i have any identity beyond what's forced on me by my situation, it's geared around being a 'writer'. my entire self-image is, in some way or other, tied in with the whole romantic artist schtick - and most of my actions bent toward making this a reality...eventually.
but i barely visit the place. it just doesn't seem vital in the way other fora do. and i think that's because, as is, it's more about recreation than creation proper.
now, maybe i'm not the best person to say this - after all, my latest effort has managed to draw not a single response, suggesting the creation needs me less than i do it. but, still: i feel like this could be an incredibly exciting, active and important part of the board - whereas at the moment it feels like a peripheral, eccentric outpost.
so, in the spirit of barbepocalypse which seems to be powering toward a death/rebirth dynamic - and especially nick's injunction to get involved if you're so desperate for things to change - here's my first draft blueprint for a creation that could be something more than a distraction.
i know, from both direct experience and anecdotal evidence, that barbelith is full of aspiring artists. this should be their hub. now, not to say there haven't been great threads and some really nice work within the creation - but i think there's space, alongside the playful, fun threads, for engaging with and exploring our own - and others - work.
i'd like to suggest the creation become more like a salon, i guess - with inclined members showing a greater willingness to discuss their work in progress, their methodologies, ambitions and influences. i want a reading group who are willing to commit to reading other posters' stuff and reporting back. i want people to be willing to have work they actually care about publically dissected.
this place should be full of brawling and boasting, bruised egos and defiant ripostes. it should be a fucking acid bath.
the survivors - assuming there are survivors - will be work that has been tempered in the face of constructive criticism, that has been forced to live and breathe and justify its existence outside of its creator's fond fantasies. and, as an eventual goal above and beyond, work which could - and should - then be incorporated into the barbelith zine.
c'mon, you motherfuckers. let's do this. |
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