hey all; there's been a mighty little debate started in the comments section of the last post. i thought that the issues this (i assume lone) anonymous commenter brought up are actually very valuable to fostering an ongoing dialogue about the character and purpose of this blog, so i figured it would be fun to post it where everyone can see. while as you will no doubt be able to figure out, i very much disagree with where this anonymous poster is coming from, i'm putting this up because i think the territory this debate covers is legitimately important and hope it opens up more dialogue and argument. plus, since the poster is anonymous, the only reputation on the line here is my own. i'll be updating this post if there's more responses as my goal here is to foster debate, not freeze it or shut it down.
anonymous-poster and psychstar = pretty tasteless. this blog feels hijacked - used to b a great blog about the music/ians at wes, now a long series of posts about giant joint and personal projects/peeves w shit. still epic music at wes to write about/
still value the 3rd person/distance from the subject.
O)))-you're entitled to your opinion but i do go to wesleyan, and am making music, so this is music at wesleyan. i have made a point of highlighting the personal projects of other people who make music at wesleyan all year, and have encouraged other people at wesleyan (e.g. writers) to post about music and music-related stuff that they, wesleyan students, are psyched on.
so i don't know quite what your complaint is but honestly it doesn't really matter. blogs are PARTICIPATORY. if there's something missing here then do what i have implored people to do over and over again and email auralwes@gmail.com and ask to become a writer. or if you're really fed up with shit start your own blog. either of those options are alot better than anonymously bitching in comments.
and if you want "taste" and "3rd person distance from the subject" go read rolling stone.
Anonymous-O))) You are so full of yourself. "Blogs are PARTICIPATORY" i.e. bloggers participate to create a cohesive whole. when the individual bloggers fail to see the bigger project of what the blog is trying to do, then the cohesive whole crumbles. Get your ego out of the picture and stop being so reactionary.
O)))-i think you've pretty deeply misunderstood me. when i say blogs are "participatory" i mean that a) anybody can make one who has access to the internet, like you and b) this blog in particular is participatory because, despite the fact that i administrate it, anybody who is involved in the music scene at wes can become a writer and post to their heart's content. this also includes you. the fact that you have done neither of these things indicates to me that you have more interest in being anonymously pissy in a public forum than in doing something constructive if you see something you don't like (e.g. the content of this blog). that's your prerogative, but you better believe i'll make fun of you for it.
the larger point though is that i fundamentally disagree with you about what blogs are supposed to do. i think the great thing about blogs is that ideas like "taste", "3rd person/distance from the subject" about which one writes and keeping in mind a "cohesive whole" with regard to what one writes are have become optional if not obsolete. what blogs mean and what we as media consumers/producers gain from their participatory nature, is that people use blogs to elaborate what they're passionate about and share it with others. that passion has to do with what is written, how it is written, aesthetic decisions, the whole nine. i think that given this situation, we get a richer and more varied cultural universe when people express what they're psyched on with no regard for some abstraction like "distance from the subject" or someone else's definition of taste. and since anyone (albeit anyone with internet access, something which is becoming a problematic divide in our world) can do it, not only should people not have to apologize for the proclivities they express, i think they should be celebrated for being as unabashed about it as they can be, even if the particular things to which they give voice aren't on your personal top ten. it seems to me that expecting everyone to accede to your ideas of good taste lest they be subjected to your quasi-nonsensical whining is a much more egotistical and 'reactionary' (both in terms of being reactive and expressing a far-right political understanding) assumption than the assumption that given (relatively) equal access to the tools of publication, people should unapologetically represent the people, things, and ideas that they're passionate about without apology. and like i said, if you disagree with this approach, there are plenty of publications like rolling stone, the music coverage of the sunday new york times, etc. which will no doubt satisfy your desire for genteel taste and a vaneer of objectivity and have many more readers than this blog. again, sticking to these would be another positive alternative to bitching here.
the same thing goes for this blog on a smaller scale, by the way. to preface though, we've never stopped posting any music event around campus that anyone sends in. actually, i've been pretty proactive in hounding people to send them in because i do believe that an important part of this blog is to provide that service to our fair campus. of course there haven't been many such posts of late because, if you haven't noticed, concerts don't really happen during reading and finals weeks.
that said though, there is still one more issue to address. while i administrate this blog, that job mostly means going through e-mail spam, posting about concerts that nobody else asks to post about, and in this rare case responding to comments such as yours that while thoroughly misguided do bring up important topics despite themselves. aside from that though, i have neither more nor less access to this blog than any of our many writers, each of whom i'm sure have a unique take and set of preferences within the wes music scene and music in general. recognizing that people who are into music enough to write about it pay attention to its production in lots of different cultural and geographic contexts, one of my goals this year has been to open up this blog to all facets of the music scene at wesleyan. this includes the tastes and interests of those of us who are invested in the scene and draw inspiration from multiple sources across different times and spaces. there's also the foregrounding of new projects which, whether solo or not, are always "personal projects" for those involved. if you haven't noticed the "nuband" feature, there's been a great diversity of wesleyan musicians doing new things that we've showcased this semester and i'm pretty happy about that.
the other thing is, the fact that my own tastes are represented in the posts i make does not mean a god damn thing about what other people can post. if you want other people who you like more to post more go and bug them about it. i'd love to see more of this blog's writers (hey writers: HINT HINT) to post new projects they or their friends do, bands, scenes and histories that make them passionate about music, etc. now, i'm a pathetic nerd who spends waaaay too much time on the computer and aspires to one day maybe even get paid a little money to write about what i love. this sad state of affairs that is my life means that i post a good bit. if others don't, you can either congratulate them for having a richer social life than i do (something they no doubt deserve) or you can say that you like what they do so they should post more to help drown out my admittedly specific voice (i'd be very excited if that were to happen, actually). or, as i mentioned above, you can become a writer yourself! your genius cover of anonymity would even prevent me from holding these comments against you! you've got nothing to lose!
but, after all that, if you're content to do what your doing right now, i have neither the desire nor ability to change your mind. all i can suggest is that you've got a new NYT sunday styles section to look at today.
PS
if scary pictures of santy-claus really offend your taste that much, i think rolling stone might be a little peppery for you. there are, however, LOTS of christian music publications that you can be sure will steer clear of just about ANYTHING that may run afoul of your good taste. such guarantees cannot be made of this blog, so steer clear if that's where you're at.
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