Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 10:16:03 EST From: A Big Bowl of Cybernuts Subject: [WRITERS] FILLER: Between Acts, A Few Words... [hum...along the banks of the river Alph, far from the muddy crud, there sits a quiet thoughtful figure...who says: "Hey, y'all, pull up a pile of bits and set yourself down for a spell..." ^p^p^p^p^p^p^a^k^k^k^k^k^k cancel, grumble, kind of the right atmosphere, but no, that won't do...try again...] "A society is a group of unequal beings organized to meet common needs." "The just society, as I see it, is one in which sufficient order protects members, whatever their diverse endowments, and sufficient disorder provides every individual with full opportunity to develop his genetic endowment, whatever that may be. It is this balance of order and disorder...that I think of as the social contract." (p. 3 in The Social Contract by Robert Ardrey, copyright 1970, Dell) [in the background, a hastily painted sketch on a backdrop might be a town by a river, if you give it the benefit of the doubt. the spotlight shining in your eyes might be sunshine, if you are willing to stretch your imagination. and in the glare of that spotlight, a figure sits, scratching at the robes of the guru, shaking his head...and stretching out his hand in welcome...] "Hi. I realize that some of you may think I should just shut up and quit irritating everyone with my opinions, comments, and other words, but if you would take a few moments to sit with me here on the WRITERS stage and share a few words with me about this workshop, I'd appreciate it." The seated figure waits a moment, then drops his outstretched hand to the edge of the stage and shrugs. "I guess one place to start is with my vision of what WRITERS is. It's a workshop. First, last, and in between everything else, it's a place for trying things out." "So what? Well, that means there will be mistakes. There's no reason to be ashamed or angry about making a mistake here, in fact, that's a big part of the reason for having a workshop. Workshops provide a 'safe' place for trying things out, for exploring, for making the mistakes that let us learn, grow, expand our horizons." An angry voice says, "Yeah? So why the @#$%!* won't you get off my back about making one?" The guru strokes his keyboard for a moment... "Okay. This is the hard part about a workshop, and about what I want this place to be. You see, in a workshop, part of what we have to encourage is responding, reacting, analyzing what other people have contributed. That's the feedback part of the workshop--and it is critical to the success of the workshop." "So they reacted and I told them where to stuff it!" "Well, now, that's a problem. When people provide feedback about work here, when they offer suggestions, play riffs around something, or invest their time in showing how they would have done it, it is very important how we respond to those comments. Welcoming, learning, open responses work. Even simple 'thanks, I'll consider that' responses work. But when members of the list run into attempts to shut them up, to 'one-up' their suggestions, to open hostility--well, that doesn't make it in the workshop." "So what are you saying?" "Simply, there's at least three parts to most of the interactions here. First, someone posts something. Second, someone reacts to it. And third, the original author and maybe some others respond again. And each of these steps needs to allow, even invite the next...and the next...and the next. Cutting the other person off--stopping the unending dialogue--isn't really appropriate." "I've got the right to say anything I want." "Absolutely correct. Unfortunately, some people seem to think that also means tacking on an implied or sometimes all too explicit 'but you don't, so shut up' is in order. Try phrasing it this way, 'we've got the right to say things' and make sure to invite other people to say their part, to keep the exchange going instead of stopping it." "What?" "Look. Each and every one of us has the right to say what needs to be said, the responsibility to respond richly and honestly to what has been said, and the obligation to help each other grow from that exchange. We have the right, responsibility, and obligation--and you're right on target when you remind us to to do that." "Thanks, but sometimes they're just WRONG! How can I let them talk when they're wrong?" "Let me try saying it again a different way. The key to a good workshop is encouraging expressions of opinion, but not at the cost of diversity. I.e., it is important that we all feel free to be controversial--but not to tell others to shut up. We've all got the right to comment, without being faced with a blizzard of anger, misreading, and other nastiness." "But what if I'm really angry?" "Say you're angry. Say you're hurt. But don't use your reaction as a weapon, a lever to force the other person into silence. Use it as a springboard for all of us to explore...what happened? Was that really what you wanted to have happen? What else could we do to try to communicate?" The drip of a pipe in the background sounds loud in the silence. It could be rain trickling through the jungle canopy, if you let yourself dream...or maybe just plumbing on a cold stage, where hopeful thespians rehearse their dreams into visibility...the seated figure taps a few more keys... "Or maybe this will make sense--if someone wants to make fun of women's writing, men's writing, politics, religion, age, sexual orientation (be ye pointer? setter? spinning wheel? hanging from the chandelier singing Gregorian Chanties? or even something exotic! :), eating habits (or whatever clothing you may like to chew on) or whatever, that's fine. But...and this is the crucial point where I'm not sure we're communicating yet...we have to allow others the freedom to comment, to critique, to take different positions--without instantaneous counterattacks, escalation to the max, misinterpretations, baiting, mocking, taunting and all the rest of the arsenal of verbose attacks so finely aimed at trying to silence those who differ." The figure on the edge of the stage shakes his head, then waves at the stage... "I guess what I'm saying is that the stage really has to be open to everyone, and as stage manager...well, part of my job is making sure that everyone gets a fair chance up there under the lights. I'm going to keep this stage open and do my best to make sure that everyone gets a chance..." He laughs, then brushes at his jeans and jumps to his feet. "Look, just give other people a chance, too, okay? Laugh a little, hug a little, maybe cry a little sometimes, and enjoy the chance for all of us to grow. So get back to work, and I'll expect to see you up on the stage again real soon now, all right?" The bits flow and mingle...the edges of the stage seem to spread out and encompass worlds untravelled, unimagined, beyond anything ever known before, then shrink and adjust, unraveling into the perfect spot for... you'll have to write and tell us. [incidentally, for those who are interested in such things, this piece is just a bit over 1,200 words. That's out of about 6,000 words I wrote in false starts, blind alleys, and other attempts to put this together. There's another...1,200 words or so...that I may use in other postings, but over half aren't going anywhere.]