08 July 2009
i.t. in not actually a man shocker
Something called Slog discusses my run-in with de Botton, wondering whether his next book will be a take-down of the internet: I kind of hope so! I'd love to review that (without prejudice, of course). For some reason, though, the author of the post assumes I'm a guy. Pah. I stopped wanting to be a boy when I was eleven...please don't assume. Besides, a two second glance would send you to my staff-page, where a quite-obviously womanish-thing glares at you as if in the midst of pursuing a serious philosophical argument.
I never did get to go for that coffee with poor, besieged Alain. At this point, I would actually buy him one, and maybe even a slice of cake as well - he seems so drastically, heartbreakingly unable to take criticism that anything to bolster him up seems well, just a duty, really. I can't but wonder about this thin-skinnedness, though: one of my original points was that most people suffer criticism all the time - at work, from their family, from their friends (ha! Especially if you're my friend) - how is it possible to write (of all things) without developing any strategies to cope with negative responses (just or unjust)? I fully expect my book on women to get a kicking - assuming it gets any reviews at all - and a mildly harsh review in the New York Times is surely something to aspire to...
I never did get to go for that coffee with poor, besieged Alain. At this point, I would actually buy him one, and maybe even a slice of cake as well - he seems so drastically, heartbreakingly unable to take criticism that anything to bolster him up seems well, just a duty, really. I can't but wonder about this thin-skinnedness, though: one of my original points was that most people suffer criticism all the time - at work, from their family, from their friends (ha! Especially if you're my friend) - how is it possible to write (of all things) without developing any strategies to cope with negative responses (just or unjust)? I fully expect my book on women to get a kicking - assuming it gets any reviews at all - and a mildly harsh review in the New York Times is surely something to aspire to...
