How closely do i have to know them? one conversation? 5? Five years? Do I have to spend a week in a small enclosed space with them? Do I have to have sex with them?
You know, I'm really sorry that i judge everyone I meet on the way they present themselves to me. For every person I encounter, everyone I meet a ta party or at work or on the Metro or at Burning Man, I should probably go home, look up what they've done in the past, read everything they've written, study their history and then decide how I feel about them. Right?
No.
I judge people on the face they show me. Perhaps that why mamas tell their children to "put your best face forward." Someone may be a happy, perky person, but they day i met them they are having a bad day and cuss out everyone in sight. How should I interpret that? I'm going to interpret that as a cranky person. If I meet them later, and they do something different, my opinion may change. But I am not in control of what they choose to show to the world, Jerri or anyone else. And that's the thing--you may think I'm judging her differnt becuase she's a celebrity. I'm not. I say she's acting the way she is becuase she's a celebrity, and I'm judging her on the way she acts, regardless of why she does it. Why she makes the choices she does are her decisions (and I respect her right to make them, even though I may disagree with them). But I think it would be stupid not to realize or expect that people will judge her on that.
As far as your questions about being a writer (I'm not a woodwright, thank you very much), people will make whatever impressions they will make, clearly. Sometimes they're accurate and sometimes they're not. I used to write a lot of stories about fucked-up, depressed suicidal people. Does that reflect on me? Absolutely. I'd venture to say that, for instance, Picasso's blue period was a reflection on his feelings at the time, too. So I'd say, while not 100% accurate, there is a level of accuracy there.
I'm glad you believe disagreeing is acceptable, becuase I think it's pretty unlikely to happen in this instance. And the one thing I do agree on is that that's okay.
You've done as much? <snort> You're giving yourself a lotta props there, my friend. I could equally say the same about you.But as long as we agree it's not impossible, I've done as much as I could ever hope.
