Yes, I said It, I love my right to be a little bit negative. Part of my current mood is due to my computer crashing yesterday and knowing that I will not see it until sometime next week. Even when I get it back I may lose all the data on it…. Thankfully I had backed up everything a week ago but between then and my computer crashing I’ve saved some pretty important things that could be gone now.
Since 95% of the work I do is on my computer I called my boss, let him know the situation, and took a couple personal days. I should be excited for the long weekend, I can certainly use the free time to work on Christmas crafting but instead I feel bummed by the forced hiatus.
In the absence of work I spent a lot of time “chatting” on the Flickr discussion boards. My favorite topic is “One line/design whose popularity I completely don’t understand” I love that everyone feels free (myself included) to admit not only do they not like but they don’t understand the popularity of some of the modern designs who are so revered in this group. I’m not trying to put down or diminish the skills, creativity, and hard work of those designers but I don’t think respecting them means I have to like their work or pretend I like it for fear of being judged for my opinion. Not everyone finds this fun, people in various ways implied that this was not a good topic. That it put down designers, that we should focus on what we love. To me the point of the discussion is to embrace our right to different opinions. To say that even if you don’t like some of the “modern” designers you are still welcome in this group. Your opinion, whether or not it coincides with the majority, is welcome here. It is not about putting down designers and in my opinion no one did. No one was rude, insulting, degrading in any way. Most people just said I don’t like x because of the colors or the scale or whatever. I don’t want to belong to a group that in any way sends the message we all have to like the same things or if you don’t you have to keep silent about it.
After all, as I understand it a major part of the drive for the “modern” quilting movement was that they didn’t feel welcomed or accepted by traditional quilters? That they felt ostracized or judged because their taste in fabric and quilts was different? It doesn’t need to be an all or nothing situation. Within any movement or group there is a spectrum of individuals and it is their differences as much as their similarities that make the group better.
What do you think? Is it okay to foster discussion about dislikes or is it better to focus on the positive? Whether you or agree or disagree please say so but be respectful when you do so.
Read Full Post »
