Getting over myself

It's a very fine line between getting across one's own personality and just being completely unaccessible.

I have a great tendency to go off into various asides while writing, usually utilizing my much beloved parentheses (in fact I will sometimes write an aside, and then be tempted to write an asides aside, but am stopped by the idea that THAT, somehow, is crossing a line. I dare say it's an overpowering command of my super ego. And for that we should all be thankful that the planet Freud blew up and sent us the lone survivor who became Super Ego.) One of my favourite teachers once told me I shouldn't use those parentheses- that if I'm going to say something I should just say it, intimating that the words in brackets "don't really count". I got that advice years ago, and though I obviously don't hold to it, it has stuck with me.

But for me parenthesis are an excellent visual cue reflecting how I speak, or rather, communicate. It's true that the ultimate goal of sending out words into the void is to get a specific idea across, and I regret when I fail to achieve that (it does happen often enough), but there's also the "how" and "why" to consider.

Whoah there, I almost lost you there. Me too. Let me break it down for myself.

I think we're pretty familiar with the who, what, when, where, why, and how of getting a story across- the important facts of what has happened. But let's say (to humour me) that there's a corresponding who, what, when, where, why, and how to telling a story- the who, what, when, and where has to do with the facts of the matter themselves that anyone can relate.

But then there's also the "how" and "why" to consider (I'm using the same words as above for emphasis. I'm fully conscious of the repetition)
the HOW are we going to get this information across? and-
the WHY am I the one telling this story?

Those two questions are key (whether we remember them or not) for our personal communiques, and their answers are inextricably linked with each other. Why am I the one telling this story? Because no one else can tell it with the exact same point of view, life experience, and style as I can. How am I going to get this information across? I'm going to use my point of view, life experience, and style as the focus for expressing this story.

Yes, both questions have nearly identical answers, don't be alarmed, that was expected.

It was a very liberating feeling when I read Emily Dickinson- her use of the hyphen everywhere (or, if that was later added in by editors for the sake of our sanity, then her use of spacing and non-punctuation) affirmed my own view of just being comfortable with how ones self writes. Any reluctance to include parentheses and hyphens in my own writing virtually disappeared after encountering her, to the great chagrin of grammarians everywhere.

But all that confusing-ness said- Dude! Isaac! Could you TRY to make more sense to people? I'm glad you're all liberated and whatnot, but get over yourself.

***

In other news, I've just read the introduction to a copy of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and anticipate a fun post in regards to that book. It shouldn't take too long before that happens, it's a rather short book, but it all depends on when I get into it.