sharp

there are few things worse than hurting someone's feelings without knowing it.  today, i realized i had done just that.  i put my foot in my mouth in a major way.  it's not cute, it's not laughable, it's just a pain.  let me explain:

a few days ago i wrote a blog entry about the art show that james was participating in, called Art's Alive.  i made some comments off the cuff, some haphazard observations, about the way the art was presented.  my comments were pretty judgmental, snobby even, and wholly inconsiderate of all the people who spent hours upon hours organizing an event with limited financial resources.  i felt the need to throw my opinion out there, without realizing 1) that it could possibly get back to the organizers of the art exhibit, 2) that it could offend, anger, and infuriate them, and 3) that my comment could further alienate me from an art community i was already struggling to understand.  oops.  i guess i didn't even think people took me seriously.  i mean, it's pretty easy to feel invisible out here, in the quiet black of night middle of nowhere, typing these stream-of-consciousness thoughts onto the screen.  i wasn't prepared for the power of my own sharp tongue, my editorial opinion in it's rawest, most honest, unedited moments, nor for the repercussive backlash that followed.

in an angry email from one of the organizers, it's firmly stated: "you're not coming across as justified and righteous, or even funny, you're coming across as bitter...volunteers were hurt and insulted by your words...It's ironic that a person who fully embraces the "use what you have to make something great" approach to art is so quick to shit on an event that did just that."  double oops.   now i've got hurt feelings too, if it's any consolation.  lesson learned.

so here, i would like to wholeheartedly apologize, to Art's Alive and to everyone who read what i wrote and got hurt.  i know well what hurt feels like, and anger too, and i'm embarrassed to think i could have caused those feelings in someone else.  i didn't mean to do that to you.   i only wish to spread positivity and love and good vibrations. and honesty.  in a world so full of negativity, of hate and war and bitterness and waste and loss and deceit and haste, it is amazing when people get together, work together for the sake of beauty.  you did just that, and i commend you.  it takes a lot of courage.