[PREV - AUTHENTICITY]    [TOP]

BLANKING_THE_CANVAS

                                                     June 2, 2006

So, I was hanging around in Vesuvio in North
Beach, talking to a young woman about something
or other (bohemian history, no doubt).


In passing, she indicated that she
had tentatively adopted the idea
that:  "appearance doesn't matter".
   
I.e. who cares about fashion, why
worry about dressing weird, when what
counts is what goes on inside your head?


This is a very sensible,
no-nonsense position,
but I don't think it
holds up very well.


   If she dyed her hair green
   she would very quickly find
   that it changed the way
   people related to her.

   Some people would immediately
   give her credit as a creative
   genius.

   Some people would leap to blame                          
   her for any screw-up ("what do          It is likely these    
   you expect from a flake like            two sets of people  
   that?").                                would overlap.    
                                                   
      In the face of this
      it's hard to say that
      "appearance doesn't
      matter".

      Clearly it matters                                            
      to a lot of people.          (I doubt anyone would ever bother     
                                   to say "appearance doesn't            
                                   matter" if it were really true.)      
        It's possible to argue                                           
        that "appearance                                                
        *shouldn't* matter"...                                        

   
        But why shouldn't it?    

          Why abandon a channel
          of communication?

               Why waste a canvas?



--------
[NEXT - SO_FAR]