Was it something I said?
In suggesting that Culture Grrl’s begging for money might not be the best way to attract support for an art blog, I tiptoed through the topic, so as not to cause personal offense. In truth, it drives me crazy. My masterpiece of understatement here.
CG (Lee Rosenbaum) replied with a picture of a hatchet, which is probably a play on my last name. Good one. I haven’t heard it since grade school.
I understand it’s tough to make a living writing about art, and that until lately I’ve done so from the privileged position of a union job.
So, what do I know about it? I know what Odgen Nash would say.
In Bankers Are Just Like Anybody Else, Except Richer, he offered advice that any freelance arts blogger would do well to heed. To wit:
Most bankers dwell in marble halls,
Which they get to dwell in because they encourage deposits
and discourage withdrawals,
And particularly because they all observe one rule which woe
betides the banker who fails to heed it,
Which is you must never lend any money to anybody
unless
they don’t need it.
Nash died in 1971. He was thinking of pre-Bush administration, tightly regulated banks. Throw the old rules out, what happens? The rules are old, but they apply to writing about art, running a gallery or even trying to get a date.
Desperate for a date? Your phone will not ring.
Hi Regina,
Well, it hasn’t taken you very long to break your own rules of engagement. Below is a quoted response from you addressing my concerns over censorship. The quote comes from one of your first postings here on AJ. It was entitled, “The Mass Disperses”.
———***——–
Your quote:
Hi Marulis. I’m not going to censor comments I don’t like but don’t want comments that are off topic or attack people.
———***——–
For myself, Regina, I prefer your feisty style, it is one of the many ingredients which has endeared me to you, so listen, if you call someone a beggar, that is an attack.
Perhaps, with a stretch, it could be described as kindred advice but considering Culture Girl’s response, I think it was received as a jab to the ribs.
It would seem that this blow was delivered at an opportune time. Culture Girl may have been knocked into the ropes by the economy and now she is hoping to derive a little income off of her popularity, you know, aquire a little bit of “the necessary”.
Wow! That Rosenbaum is worse than a bum with those threats and that air of entitlement. She even admits to her blog advancing her career and bank account through lecturing gigs, yet she wants more, more, more! Sounds a little AIG-y to me. I guess donors 1-24 won’t be seeing a return on their generosity. Take the $$$ and run GRRL!
is this different?
http://www.artfagcity.com/2008/12/30/the-art-fag-city-year-end-fundraiser-in-the-final-stretch/
Repy to TM:
Yes, very different. Attempting to raise funds with an appeal is fine. The question is tone: Art Fag City’s is adult, and Culture Grrl’s is girly girly. I’d rather hear fingernails on blackboards. Regina
if we’re talking tone, then you might be getting personal…but, i have to say, they are both nails on a chalkboard to me.
so, is the question “should bloggers ask for money?” or “should bloggers ask for money using the right tone?” or neither?
TM. Until we can live by looking at raindrops on roses, everybody needs money, including art bloggers.
And Marulis: I didn’t break my own rule of engagement. I called a behavior what it is. One who sweeps streets is a street sweeper. One who writes, a writer. One who begs, a begger. It’s a description, not a judgment.
Regina
I don’t know if there is a such thing as a fundraising campaign that isn’t nails on a chalkboard. I have personal bias having run a campaign myself, but I think it’s good idea to have a goal and limited time frame in which to execute your fundraiser. It’s too much of a burden on readers to ask them to donate with no set goals, deadlines or project perimeters. Businesses and non-profits a like have to set financial budgets and goals to operate. Blogging isn’t any different.
You don’t remember such a campaign? Yrs wasn’t. Yrs was direct w/o whining or cuteness. I donated to yrs, although I noticed you never cashed the check. What, my $ isn’t good enough for you? (Congrats on Warhol.) Regina
One who begs is a “beggar.” And your “masterpiece of understatement” (I hope this was merely a failed attempt at self-deprecating irony) likened a colleague attempting to cobble together a business model ex nihlo to a panhandler. You are now trying to pass it off as judgment-free description, as if “beggar” had no negative connotations. I am now faced with the unpleasant task of deciding whether you’re lying, or you genuinely have that little self-awareness.
I’ll follow up with Momenta about this. I wasn’t aware your check wasn’t cashed.