{"id":1635,"date":"2009-07-01T19:57:53","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T00:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=1635"},"modified":"2009-07-02T06:01:25","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T11:01:25","slug":"you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/?p=1635","title":{"rendered":"You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together”.
\n– John Lennon<\/i>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve noticed that my daily blog posts cover quite a range of tone, from serious to comic to lyrical to slightly nutty to rather more than slightly nutty. At first I was not sure about the cause of this variety. But recently I think I’ve started to figure it out.<\/p>\n

My theory is that each post I write has an intended reader, although I am not always aware at first who that reader is. Not a group of readers, but one particular reader. Not necessarily a person who will actually read the post, nor even necessarily a person who is alive on this planet at the moment, but always some specific individual with whom I have some sort of emotionally generative relationship.<\/p>\n

The process feels a bit like one-on-one storytelling. I picture you in my mind, and I talk to you. You might be grown-up or child, male or female, living or dead, someone I talk with every day or someone with whom I ceased all communication years ago. Often you are an old friend, and often you are a specific person I met two days ago, with whom I had a fascinating conversation over dinner.<\/p>\n

This makes sense on a teleological level. After all, a blog is in some ways the direct opposite of a diary. A diary is essentially a wall of privacy – a safe means by which to say things to yourself that you would not say to others.<\/p>\n

In contrast, a blog is by definition a public document. There are walls here to be sure, but they are more subtle – they are walls built of differential expected knowledge, of privileged prior information. Just as it is possible to make a public speech that is truly understood by only one person within a crowd of ten thousand listeners, blogging has a quality of hiding in plain sight.<\/p>\n

The resulting stream of words and ideas might fade in and out of a state of mystery for various readers from day to day. One day a particular reader might recognize an experience we have shared, or a fondly recollected private joke. At other times that same reader might find themselves nonplussed, while another nods knowingly.<\/p>\n

After all, writing is an activity that appears to belong to one person, but in actuality belongs to at least two – the writer and the intended reader. The tension between these two – giver and receiver – creates an energy that is felt by all readers.<\/p>\n

Today, as usual, I am writing with a specific reader in my mind. Although you might not realize I’m writing for you, and you might not even read this, I’d just like to say hi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together”. – John Lennon I’ve noticed that my daily blog posts cover quite a range of tone, from serious to comic to lyrical to slightly nutty to rather more than slightly nutty. At first I was not sure about the … Continue reading “You”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}