New York Cowboy.org
nycowboy.org / fodder / issues

Points of Write rss

Things to think about when reading what I write and what I am truly saying.

October 10, 2003

Broken Typerwriter: Writing about the difficulties of writers block.

Imaging My World: How sometimes imagination can lead to unproductive day dreaming.

Long Term Impacts of Writing: I don't care what people say, I'm going to express myself.

Politics of Self-Reflection: A look at writing and self-reflection and the challenges it poses.

Rewriting History: A number of projects force Andrew to try to figure out what the meanings of words were yesterday.

Seeing Myself Through Words: How my imagination and writing can show me my new tomorrow.

Social Context of Writing: Why our own words seem so foreign over time.

Two More Years: With our contract renewed, the blog promises to exist for two more years.

Writing: A look at why I write, the costs it imposes, and the difficulty of true expression.

Writing II: Some further thoughts on the art of writing.

Points of Write

There are six simple points that you should always consider when reading my website. If you are offended by what I say, then try to step back and think about what I actually want you to think.

  1. Tongue in Cheek. My writing style is rarely serious on these webpages, they exist solely for me to play with ideas (and to entertain my readers).
  2. Irony of the World. Often things are conflicting and act in ways that make you want to just sigh or laugh. Cognitive dissidence is the norm in our society. Around here, I love to play with this.
  3. Cognitive Complexity. Things are rarely black and white in our world as Nietchze so famously argued. Still, the world of politics is naturally polarizing, it's about taking stands and declaring friend-enemy relations. I often take particularly hard, exaggerated partisan positions (not unlike Nietchze and women), to demonstrate that we all have our prejudices and that being wishy-washy is not being political.
  4. Read Between the Lines. There are limits to what words and pictures can express, and society limits what I can honestly say or claim. Moreover, your experience is different from mine, and therefore your understanding of the world is different from the version I understand. As R.D. Laing would say, experience defines all.
  5. Abstractions. We don't live in a world of models and theories—we live in the real world of pickup trucks, down 'n dirty politics, and a dozen other things. I tend to give concrete examples (often using theoretical concepts at the same time)—but a comment on canned shoots can often be applied when considering minority rights. There is no separate worlds out there, we all live in the same place.
  6. Stick in With It. While my Nietchizian-side gets the best of me with redneck-y positions, I'm not going to say reading my website is easy. Many of the concepts are deeply buried in what I write, not unlike those great philosophers you read in college. I take on things like absolute truths—namely freedom—and it's very hard to get one's arms around such things. Not to mention I freely use acronyms such as NYFB, because I'm not going to type in big words every time.

Most importantly, while you read this site, please keep a sense of humor, and realize most of what I write, was written with a big grin on my face. I love to play with ideas, and try them out in unconventional ways. You must challenge your prejudices and try to understand why you see things a certain way. Ask yourself this question: Am I Right or Wrong?

[Picture]