[stylist] Workshop environment

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Judith and others,

The venom in which you feel your piece was met with is exactly what I am
addressing.  You have every right to voice your opinions, views and
beliefs.  You also have every right to express those views in any
manner--presentation--you feel is necessary.  As a group dedicated to
writing and helping those who indulge in writing, we should not attack
anyones writing because we disagree with the content.  We may
communicate how a piece works for a general audience, we can address how
language, structure, tone--all the basics--translate your message,
certainly we can suggest changes or additions, but no one should create
arguments based on the content that inevitably leads to a debate on
Stylist.

We did agree a while ago to include descriptions of our work so we can
choose to read a piece or not.  I do not believe in censoring any
subject, but I think we have to be adults and approach material with
unbiased criticism.  We should not judge work based on our personal
opinions and beliefs even if we strongly disagree.  This is how a
diverse group should work.

If Stylist had been established as a group for Christians, or Jews or
women--you get the point--we would know (I would hope) what kind of
material to post.  Some probably think we should only write about
blindness.  Stylist is not this, though.

I may read material that (content wise) I disagree with, but it is not
my place to judge the writer (or the work( because of this.  A well
written piece (or badly written, for that matter ) is not contingent
upon subject matter.  I don't want to read Lolita because I find the
subject disturbing, but the book is well written for all that.

All I am suggesting is that we post any work we want the group to
critique, but we can not dismiss that material because of differences or
because it is contraversial.  Perhaps I am not communicating this
correctly.

Bridgit

Message: 10
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:13:30 -0500
From: Judith Bron <jbron at optonline.net>
To: Writer's Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Workshop environment
Message-ID: <92862B61EEFE4483B9C6D45B9BAB110D at dell5150>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1;
	reply-type=original

Bridgit and all, Usually when a person writes something it reflects an 
opinion.  Unlike other species, people have the ability to write, record
and 
transmit opinions.  Often our writing reflects passionate opinions
because 
that is what, as authors, we feel capable of writing about.  My opinion
that 
the person guilty of murder and inflicting serious injury on others was
an 
individual suffering from a serious mental disorder and not politicians,

political parties or political organizations should not have been met
with 
the venom that met it.  As a writing organization or list either we are
open 
to the opinions that often make the difference between good authors and 
insignificant authors or we'll spend valuable time talking about
irrelevant 
material in a complicated world where events influence the lives of
everyday 
people.  Judith