Invincible Summer in Germany
I've recently made the acquaintance of an interesting guy named Phillip who lives in Cologne, Germany. I came across his webjournal a while ago (though I can't remember how) and began to look forward to his updates. After reading for a while, I decided to introduce myself and sent him a link to my site. He wrote back a very kind message that included praise for my writing. I checked his site this weekend and was surprised to see that I am mentioned in his July 16th entry.
I remarked to him that the internet was such a strange place. It's so easy to stumble upon someone's website and learn all sorts of personal things about them. It flips 'theories of distance influencing familiarity' on their heads. I bump into so many people in the course of a day who base their opinions of me solely on my appearance or my mannerisms. And then, there are people who I've never met, who come visit my blog, and know all sorts of things about me. I think it's fascinating that someone on the other side of the world knows more about me than the person in line in front of me at my local coffee shop.
Phillip remarked that I have a calm way of expressing myself and that I am able to maintain a healthy distance in my writing. I appreciate the compliment, but I'm not sure that I can take complete credit for that. I believe the distance comes from feeling forced to write somewhat vaguely about my experiences because this is a public website. I certainly try to be truthful, but I'm not an open book. There are some subjects that I never touch on even though they may be largely occupying my thoughts. In contrast, he seems to write quite candidly about many personal matters. He quotes emails that he's received, writes directly to an ex-lover, and doesn't appear to hide much (though only he knows for certain how much he is actually sharing). I am going to ask him if this has ever gotten him in trouble.
If you have some time, I recommend checking out Phillip's journal. It is filled with Leonard Cohen and Deluzian philosophy and beautiful lyrics intermingled with his prose.
I remarked to him that the internet was such a strange place. It's so easy to stumble upon someone's website and learn all sorts of personal things about them. It flips 'theories of distance influencing familiarity' on their heads. I bump into so many people in the course of a day who base their opinions of me solely on my appearance or my mannerisms. And then, there are people who I've never met, who come visit my blog, and know all sorts of things about me. I think it's fascinating that someone on the other side of the world knows more about me than the person in line in front of me at my local coffee shop.
Phillip remarked that I have a calm way of expressing myself and that I am able to maintain a healthy distance in my writing. I appreciate the compliment, but I'm not sure that I can take complete credit for that. I believe the distance comes from feeling forced to write somewhat vaguely about my experiences because this is a public website. I certainly try to be truthful, but I'm not an open book. There are some subjects that I never touch on even though they may be largely occupying my thoughts. In contrast, he seems to write quite candidly about many personal matters. He quotes emails that he's received, writes directly to an ex-lover, and doesn't appear to hide much (though only he knows for certain how much he is actually sharing). I am going to ask him if this has ever gotten him in trouble.
If you have some time, I recommend checking out Phillip's journal. It is filled with Leonard Cohen and Deluzian philosophy and beautiful lyrics intermingled with his prose.
posted by Leah at
11:51 a.m.
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