Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Lose Ends Part I: The Matter of the Quote

On Saturday, I shared with you my wholly unexpected discovery that one of my old blog posts had been quoted in a book on the history of comic books.  I wondered just why the author, Shirrel Rhoades, had chosen to cite my writing and said that I'd have to find his contact info and ask him.
Shirrel Rhoades  
Well, finding a way to get in touch with Mr. Rhoades was not hard at all, as we live in a time when even minor supporting characters in bad comic strips have their own Facebook pages. (One of my Facebook friends is Mary Worth's neighbor Wilbur Weston.)  Thus, on Sunday, I put my questions to the author.  
Obviously a man of profound good taste and erudition, Mr. Rhoades replied that "I liked your blogs and thought you succinctly offered an observation about Stan that even he'd admit to in his less bombastic moments." He goes on to say that he "wanted to pepper the textbook with quotes from a wide variety of sources rather than just my opinions or those of a small insider clique."   
Now that I am recognized as an expert in my field, I will be available for lectures, cable talk shows and birthday parties.  Though I will not do balloon animals.  Even if I could, I wouldn't.  A man's got to draw the line somewhere.
Faced with black and white evidence that people actually read and pay attention to what I put out on the cyberwaves in these blogs, will I now more carefully consider my often inane, sometimes insane, and usually ill informed opinions before I hit the "Publish" button?
Most likely not.

No comments:

Post a Comment