From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V10 #10 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Monday, January 17 2005 Volume 10 : Number 010 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Neil Gaiman isn't in the Hotel [Richard Handal ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 14:19:03 -0500 (EST) From: Richard Handal Subject: Re: Neil Gaiman isn't in the Hotel Responding again to Amanda: > >>People want to put me into a box all day, *every* > day. I've been majorly oppressed my entire life by > such thinking, so this is not an intellectual exercise > to me.<< > > I'm sorry that this happens to you. It happens to me, > as well. I have facial piercings and tattoos, but > nothing too graphic or out of the ordinary, and people > treat me completely different than my friends who > don't partake in that type of lifestyle. So, I know, > and it's maddening. And it seems to me that more Tori people than a random percentage of the population are unusual or feel marginalized for some reason, which is part of why it gets me worked up when I have seen those very people think in ways that seek to put something into a box when it's a poor fit. One would think that having experienced a lot of this in their own lives it might dawn on people that they may be, in turn, acting in such a manner. From conversations I've seen, this seems not to make much difference to some Tori folk. To a large extent, I can understand why that is. It's what we're used to seeing. Watch TV news interviewers ask questions and listen to the way they couch their questions in such a manner that forces each interview subject into a box. In the world of most TV news interviews, one must be either for or against something. Shades of grey do not exist. As an interview subject, if you say you don't agree with a particular point of view, then you are immediately assumed to hold the diametrically opposed point of view. People are reduced to being described by short phrases; David Letterman becomes "late night, gap-toothed comedian," and so forth. That we live in such a simplistic, shorthand world goes a long way to explaining how we in the U.S. ended up with a smirking cowboy tautologist as president. If certain music doesn't fit neatly into a box for a certain radio format, it stands little chance of getting much airplay and it ends up marginalized. Tori's music fits poorly into boxes, so it's no wonder she rarely shows up on the radio. The only way Tori's music is gonna end up getting much airplay is if it slides in under the radar posing as something people are used to hearing. I thought Fairytale might have managed to do that, but it didn't. I have the opinion that someone who has heard and grown to know many kinds of music is a more likely candidate for understanding and liking her music than someone who has heard mainly the music pop radio and MTV spew constantly. Maybe subscription satellite radio is about to blow this whole scene wide open, and artists who don't fit into boxes will soon have an opportunity to be heard more widely. Something to hope for. > Thank you for clarifying your responses. From your > last email, I felt that you were singling me out, > attacking me if you will. Thank you for providing the opportunity for me to explain myself, Amanda. I thought you already knew I liked you. :-) I probably owe you private mail from months ago. Sorry about that. Typing has often been tough for a while. Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V10 #10 *************************************