Is it ME?

It reminds me of when you leave home to go to college. You can be someone other than who you're expected to be, and since nobody knows you, you aren't defined by those pre-existing notions of you.

I sent a copy of my entry in to a good friend who was surprised by it. This is what she said, verbatim: "This is an absolutely lovely, thoughtful piece that you delivered beautifully. It’s also a much quieter Linda than I’ve ever heard before — in fact, it kind of unnerved me because I’m used to the “fast-talking, can’t hardly contain myself” version of Linda."

That was her response, because that was what was expected of me. I'm the funny one in the group, the one with quips and sarcasm. But I am also a quiet thoughtful person, and as I grow older, I feel that aspect is more representative of me.

Yes, I can mix it up with the best of them, but I felt - if I wanted to be authentic - my entry shouldn't be who I could be and who people *think* I am, but the deep-seated, deeply-felt me that lives behind the wisecracking exterior.

Maybe it's not the best shot at 'hostiness,' but imagine if you got a chance to do this kind of gig and it wasn't really who you were deep inside. Could you do it and be 'successful' but inauthentic?

-- Linda

Visit me in my House by the Sea:
http://www.publicradioquest.com/audio/user/1432
To see or not to see? Film reviews & more about me:
http://blog.syracuse.com/communitycritics/linda_lowen/

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"Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow." -- William Blake

I personally think the round one guidelines were intentionally vague so each person could define hostiness for themselves. Like, I originally wasn't crazy about people pitching potential shows (or existing shows and blogs), but some of those people doing that also happen to have a whole lot of hostiness in my book, so who's to say? We're all finding our own way and as far as I can see there's a lot of room for interpretation.

Often when a person is asked to do a thing... a thing that they happen to not be able to do, they drop back and do the thing that they can do.

But come on, confess, don't you kinda feel a bit of glee over every single entrant that posts a submission that falls short of the requested requirement?

Steve

We can philosophize together until the words fail us.