Urbanities

Midtown Manhattan


If there were a Monsieur Manners for how to treat writers, designers, photographers, he might advise people as follows:

1. When you meet a writer at a cocktail party, try not to say, "I've always been meaning to write a book myself, but I've been too busy."

2. If you hire a graphic designer to create invitations to a party, don't tell her that she will be invited to the party and then change your mind. This is not cool.

3. Editors are professionals, too. If you'd like them to edit something you've written, please remember to ask them their rate and offer to pay them for their work.

4. Although many photographers may give their work away free from time to time, always credit them if you republish their work. And, of course, offer to pay them if you want photographs of your family for your holiday cards.

5. When working with a graphic designer, don't try to tell them how to design the item you've hired them to produce. Tell them your objectives and goals; avoid getting into micro-managing them.

6. Try to pay writers and all creative workers a fair wage. Market forces are suppressing what skilled people can earn. You can't underpay a doctor, lawyer, plumber, or electrician. Why should you be able to underpay creative workers?

7. If you like to visit a website or a blog created by a writer or artist, try to notice whether they have little advertisements on their page. Usually these are shown as links. Clicking on them is the only way that writer or artist earns any money for their effort. It's kind of like public broadcasting. It's free, sure. But without your support, eventually it will go dark.


***

I miss country. My favorite music has pretty much always been country music, except for the crass, over-produced, sexist and jingoistic strains. What does that leave, you ask?

White blues.

The origins of the English spoken in Appalachia reach back to 17th century England and Scotland. Language is like any other evolutionary being -- cut it off from outside influences and it turns inward, atrophying, devoid of the inputs needed to grow and thrive.

A wonderful book about human evolution, which includes some references to how our languages reflect our history, is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. I just located my copy of this book tonight, and a sheet of paper fell out. It contained a score from a game played with my Scrabble partner from last year. (We played in San Francisco, Calistoga, Hawaii, Mexico, and other venues.) This particular game was played in Calistoga and the final score was 302-230. Most of our games were much closer than that.


***

One of my college buddies, Fred LaBour, grew up in one of our medium-sized Michigan towns, Grand Rapids, I think. Fred used to say "What could be more country than Grand Rapids?

Freddie and I were roommates at a time that we both had girlfriends staying over, leading to some funny moments. He liked my poetry, and wanted to put it to music. That never happened but Fred's career as a songwriter and performer sure did. As a member of the band Riders in the Sky, Fred has had many great moments, performing as "Too Slim."

But long before his success, I remember him as a sports writer at The Michigan Daily. He wrote a story identifying many of the clues in the "Paul is Dead" rumor that swept the world of Beatlemania.

As a writer, songwriter, and performer, Fred approaches everything from his skewed sense of humor. A small smile always plays on his lips. I miss this guy.

***

I mention Baby Boomers a lot, and not just because I am one of them. This
rat in the python" has always been a difficult group for American society to swallow. We gave our parents collective indigestion, to put it mildly. Even today, it is hard for many of us to turn off our automatic "rebel" button.

"Question authority?" Yep, that's us. But, what are we to do when we suddenly realize we are the authority?

Question ourselves? Yep, that's us too.