My social media feed is often full of things telling me how to think and feel. I must do this, I must do that, eat this, that, not this, that, protest this, that, agree with, disagree with…the list is endless. Much as I enjoy hearing what others are doing and thinking, I don’t like being subjected to a barrage of control. I feel that ideas and actions are being increasingly policed, but in ways I find repetitious, not revelatory.
What really set me off was a Facebook response to a privately sponsored writer’s residency that paid a stipend. No good deed goes unpunished as the offer was attacked from every possible angle—including that they didn’t fund authors enough! I’ve been involved with the vision of possible residency using a Tiny House, and I found this conversation downright depressing.
Then it occurred to me I don’t have to worry. My family tried to control me and I left New Jersey the day after high school graduation. Just a heads up to the universe-—bossing me around does’t work as a form of communication.
I am, however, a willing servant to my autumn blooming roses and my dirty suminagashi tray…Photo by Isabel Winson-Sagan
Miriam's Well: Poetry, Land Art, and Beyond 
Ah, Facebook, so much is aggressive, I left it.
re:
“…a privately sponsored writer’s residency that paid a stipend.”
That sounds great!
re:
“…the vision of possible residency using a Tiny House…”
Go for it!
At Call of the Page I have a different method in mind, and once we have aspects of our still newish house sorted, it’ll go onto the website. It’s not a residency, although what I was thinking of, that could also be an option.
re: autumn blooming roses
Which kind in particular? Karen has lots of different roses, and we are also thinking of Christmas Roses (bloom in January) so our workshop room will have a view of them, and other lovelies. 🙂
Good luck in your ventures, perhaps Twitter might be a kinder place? 🙂
warmest regards,
Alan
co-founder, Call of the Page
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I don’t even know what kind of roses–just average red and yellow–but I coaxed a second bloom from them because we’ve had soft rainy weather.
AMEN!
We do share a horror of being bossed too much!