Yes, it is possible to have a noteworthy Facebook Exchange. At least, I think this one was; my partner J posted this on Facebook today:
What is your image of America? Here is mine:
A worn old black man
Playing sad jazz on a trumpet
Scuffling down the pavement
Along a southern flowing reservoir
On clean black and white film
I saw it this morning when I checked by Blackberry, and I was really impressed with his imagery. It was so poetic, and beautiful. I asked him about it, and he said, he had dreamed it, and then woke up and posted it. "I wonder if anyone is going to respond?" he said. "I thought it would be cool if people posted theirs."
So I just posted this:
My image of America? Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, the Chrysler Building, St. John's the Divine, the Pacific Ocean, the big sky states (yes, I remember them), the sticky forests of North Carolina, the muggy firefly evenings in Ohio, the view I once had during a cross-country drive when I saw outside the rear window (I was in the trunk of a Rabbit) of a lone tree silhouetted on a mountaintop in about seven different possible states, the New York Subway, SFO, Williamsburg, the Austin Congress Bridge and their bats, Carlsbad Caverns, Pike's Peak, Harbin Hot Springs, Camp Marydale, Valencia Street, Julian, the Beverly Center, the Metropolitan Museum, Cedar Point, Fullerton and my backyard.
It's a nice idea: to have an artistic exchange on Facebook. I know that's an argument for social media (which I sort of want to to instinctively resist, on the basis that it's accelerating our species' seemingly shrinking humanity), or Twitter - someone can occasionally come out with a masterpiece, which gets re-tweeted three million times - but it so rarely happens. That's an argument against. I used it, and I try and use it well, thoughtfully, with discretion and, I hope, in good health. It's a fine line. Let's hope I stay on the less evil side.
What is your image of America? Here is mine:
A worn old black man
Playing sad jazz on a trumpet
Scuffling down the pavement
Along a southern flowing reservoir
On clean black and white film
I saw it this morning when I checked by Blackberry, and I was really impressed with his imagery. It was so poetic, and beautiful. I asked him about it, and he said, he had dreamed it, and then woke up and posted it. "I wonder if anyone is going to respond?" he said. "I thought it would be cool if people posted theirs."
So I just posted this:
My image of America? Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, the Chrysler Building, St. John's the Divine, the Pacific Ocean, the big sky states (yes, I remember them), the sticky forests of North Carolina, the muggy firefly evenings in Ohio, the view I once had during a cross-country drive when I saw outside the rear window (I was in the trunk of a Rabbit) of a lone tree silhouetted on a mountaintop in about seven different possible states, the New York Subway, SFO, Williamsburg, the Austin Congress Bridge and their bats, Carlsbad Caverns, Pike's Peak, Harbin Hot Springs, Camp Marydale, Valencia Street, Julian, the Beverly Center, the Metropolitan Museum, Cedar Point, Fullerton and my backyard.
It's a nice idea: to have an artistic exchange on Facebook. I know that's an argument for social media (which I sort of want to to instinctively resist, on the basis that it's accelerating our species' seemingly shrinking humanity), or Twitter - someone can occasionally come out with a masterpiece, which gets re-tweeted three million times - but it so rarely happens. That's an argument against. I used it, and I try and use it well, thoughtfully, with discretion and, I hope, in good health. It's a fine line. Let's hope I stay on the less evil side.
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