I've been Getting a little deep in a blogging discussion over at the smallest forest
Why do we blog?...what is there to gain?
what did we expect when we started? After checking my Stats , I think I'm here for the people, not the fame or fortune.
I feel that blogging gives me an opportunity to connect with all sorts of people across the world...to show what I like and how I do it....in exchange for their thoughts and ideas...No judgement...no strings attached...
I wondered if the old communes and artist colonies were like blogging....somewhere you could go to work, push boundaries and discuss the world with no hangups or problems from a selfish world...
So what happened to Philosophers....do people still say " I'm a writer and philosopher."
In australia we have just completed a census....it examines every household on one night..incomes, jobs who lives there etc etc.... What would you put on the form for JOB....I always put farmer with my tongue firmly in the corner of my cheek....I struggle with the tags...If I say I'm a farmer, some laugh and say no you married a farmer....I can't count how many times I've been asked "so You don't work? what do you do all day".I usually answer with, " I just watch daytime TV".....Strange how farmers are often not considered to
be business people.
I do all the book work and I'm the farm hand at the drop of a hat..Mother and Partner, I'm a gardener when its not too wet to pull weeds, I'm the family secretary, gopher and fix it and I volunteer in the community. I'm a qualified interior decorator but I found that career was not for me, I use lots of those skills in my life though.
Would anyone put Artists as their occupation ? I know lots of very clever people who do not like to class themselves as an artists.
What's the difference between ART and Craft ???
Oh, Shazz! There's enough stuff in here to write a book or two! I do it for the people, too, because you put a finger on it, this is where I'm likely to run into other who share passions for whatever it is I am currently squealing about. coming to Darwin meant leaving a life time of friends back home in the Philippines, and while they all still have each other (and god I envy that they still come together and have wild nights of talk and laughter and craziness and the creative juice flowing from each one into the others, feeding them all with this intoxicating stuff)I feel I have dropped out, limited to Facebook and a few calls here and there. I've lost the tribe I grew up with, and am trying to put another one together from strangers I meet across webspace.
ReplyDeleteI would happily put artist down as my occupation except that I don't feel myself to be enough of one. "Bookbinder"'s my compromised reply to the census questions. At least THAT you can pin down to a concrete thing. "Here," I'll tell Mr. Census, "give me your shirt, I'll make a book out of it..."
Your occupation is right there, in your blog profile box. "Lover." And I think that's an awesome occupation.
"lover" is an excellent occupation Nat....
ReplyDeleteso is "Artistic Bookbinder"
Shaz - do we really need a label? Or is this just to please others?
ReplyDeleteMost people love to stick us in a pigeonhole; it makes them feel more comfortable. I've never been comfortable calling myself an Artist, because I love to explore and learn and this means letting yourself wander across the boundaries between different occupations, interests etc. I like to call myself a Creative - I think we all are in different ways and to different extents.
Barbara
Interesting thoughts Barbara
ReplyDeletepeople do love to judge and label.
I love to wander across lots of different things too. If you're 'making' for your own needs and you enjoy it, that's all that matters unless you need to live off your work..If others Judge it as worth paying for it's a bonus.