Could you sell YOUR Parrot?

Recently a complaint was lodged against my blog/journal about the use of expletives. It was offered politely, even complimenting my writing style. My evaluator felt with my excellent vocabulary, that surely I could avoid succumbing to the “lazy way out” using curse words.

I gave this some thought, well actually quite a bit of thought after I got over hurt feelings about it. I really am oversensitive when it comes to my work or criticism of my general personality. Anyway, the truth is that before I moved over blog posts, each one was edited for content and usage. Being aware that some people in this realm might be a little conservative, I felt like it appropriate to edit. I can only imagine what my well meaning critic would have thought of the original piece.

Now to the meat of this commentary and the conclusion of where all that thinking last night led my pen this morning and as usual it goes deeper for me than just “don’t cuss.” When I left Texas for New York City, part of the reason I made the hard decision to go so far from friends and family was the need to escape the feeling of pressure to conform to what other people thought was the right way to be, live, think and act. I found defending myself all the time tiresome.

When I arrived in New York and got over being terrified, I discovered that my field of vision and new surroundings were so eclectic that I was the NORMAL one in the crowd of people rather than the rebel. This was such a hugely foreign state of affairs for me that after I got over the shock of it, I let myself be unabashedly delighted. No one was judging me anymore for outlandish ideas or for not “acting my age”. Instead they were actually interested in what I thought and much less interested in how much younger my husband was than I am or what I was wearing. I was able to stop worrying about what anyone was saying behind my back because these new friends and acquaintances were just too busy to worry about such things.

In my world here, the pressure is still there but it’s different and I think much more productive. Conversations, taking place in cool little bars in the West Village or Chelsea, center around new ideas about writing or films or a new business concept. Questions may sound like this, “So Joni, what’s going on with the new short stories you are working on. WHAT? You haven’t finished them? WHY NOT?” It’s not about what you HAVE done as much as what do you want to do. If you haven’t done what you want to do, what you dreamed of doing, then the attitude is, get off your ass (see! Bottom or buttocks just DON’T work here) THIS is New York City. Anything is possible.

I like the change of pace and attitude here. Sure, there are snotty Park Avenue Trust fund babies, but even they understand the entrepreneurial atmosphere, The CEO of a Fortune 500 company standing next to you at the bar will have a beer with you and a little conversation even if you are a plumber. After all, HE can’t change the pipes under his sink. I like it that people hold your feet to the fire to do what you dream of doing and it’s way more productive to be critical in that way that worrying what people will THINK about you or whether they are speaking to you or not.

So, in the interest of meeting half way, I promise to find neutral ground between being who I am, telling a story, sharing this new world around me and using unnecessary expletives.

Will Rogers once said to “live in a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” Now that I am so much more comfortable in my own skin, I think I could sell the parrot because I don’t really CARE about the town gossip anymore.

But… in the end…
Sometimes…
A BASTARD is just a BASTARD…
No matter the nomenclature.


Kiss kiss
J