A Peek Behind the Curtain
You and I are creative people. But imagine that you were a really creative person, say, a famous songwriter / folksinger. And you just had an experience that was excruciating and exasperating and maddening and dreadfully deadening to your sense of compassion for your fellow humans. What would you do about it?
Right, you would come home from the hospital and immediately write a great vicious song about it, and instantly send the roughest authentic raw-cut possible to a trusted friend — me — so I could debut it to the world before it become folk-world famous.
Above, please find and listen to “On the Other Side of This Curtain,” by Christine Lavin. (She is being way too generous to me by giving me a song credit. I did almost nothing.)
And, inasmuch as this is The Weekend Gene Pool, here is your challenge for today: As Christine prompts at the end of the song, send us your maddening, funny, true hospital experiences. Send them here.
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I also strongly advise you to read Tom Shroder’s piece today about how AI is the best editor he has ever had. It’s fascinating, especially to a writer or would-be writer.
Having been Tom’s editor on many occasions, I take no offense! But I do take exception.
Here is my response:
Good column, Tom! It’s intriguing. And provocative. And dreadfully self-revealing. And tragically wrong.
I now am forced to think of you as one of those good, trusted, well-meaning, brilliant lifelong friends who one day offers to turn you on to injectable heroin, which he has discovered to be an amazing tranquilizing, spiritually enlightening experience. He keeps urging you, and you know he is being earnest and wants the best for you. He is eager to share his discovery, the wondrous balm.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Couple of points:
In most of the instances you describe, Chat did, indeed, improve your writing. They are things I would have suggested to do, or you could have done yourself with a little more thought, had you had to think about it. You are a very good editor. But now you don’t have to try! You can just kick back and have a cold one.
But at one point, I believe the Chat failed you. Ending the column the way you wanted to would have been a much funnier and more satisfying finis than the somewhat bloviating and self-defeating one Chat ordered you to suggested that you choose. But maybe I’m wrong. I’m only human.
Please, have at me as you wish.
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And now because I am feeling feisty, here is a particularly provocative Gene Pool Gene Poll.
Here’s a picture of Christine. I am using it because Substack won’t accept the video above as a social media preview pic.
And here’s me, begging for money. It is the worst photo ever taken of me. I am willing to use it, to pandhandle. Please show me pity.
