Articles I wish I'd written first

Since moving to Seattle, I've found it increasingly difficult to write. When I first got here I had lofty aspirations of creating a narrative of my experiences and observations, comparing the East Coast to the West Coast and blah, blah, blah, decided that it's all been done before and that any sort of generalization of my experiences to a broader truth was probably an exercise in futility, doomed to create resentment among my new Seattle friends and boredom back in the East.

I was happy to just enjoy nature, chill out and not "overanalyze everything" until I got up this morning and read the piece What I Can Tell You About Seattle Based on the People I've Met Who Are From There  (I Live in Brooklyn) by wunderkind Tao Lin, bff of Miranda July in this week's Stranger, Seattle's free paper. The piece is contradictory, frustrating and poorly written (Tao informs readers of his blog "they added commas to my prose"), and commenters on the Stranger's blog are alternately up-in-arms, hating on New Yorkers or praising this as "a great piece-- irreverent, non-sensical. Most of what he writes is completely off-the-mark, but that's what makes it great."

Honestly, it reads like a bad Zagat's review with random quote marks scattered across the page separating words from one another with no rhyme or reason, much like Tao makes points and contradicts them soon after: There is no logic, consistency or beauty to what he writes... and people adore it.

I don't think this says anything about Seattle but a lot about what we're heading as a society as a whole. The recent move away from the Kneejerk Irony that marked the early '00s seems to be veering from The New Sincerity and into the territory of Dada. This a world that loves Little Miss Sunshine for its heart-warming quirkiness despite its lack of believable or consistent, nuanced characterization. It's the bastard child of Hello Kitty and James Joyce -- a super kawaii Finnegan's Wake. Who cares if it means anything -- it warms our hearts and makes us feel smart for appreciating it.

Either that or Seattleites are just a bunch of milquetoast hippies who are unwilling to judge anyone or anything too harshly for fear of hurting someone's feelings.

Comments

[thea]

Hi Hong An!
I know I haven't seen you in a really long time, so maybe it's a little creepy that I was reading your blog, but this is an excellent observation:
"The recent move away from the Kneejerk Irony that marked the early '00s seems to be veering from The New Sincerity and into the territory of Dada."
I think you are right on.
That's it!
Hope things are good.

[ht]

hey thea! so great to hear from you. my co-blogger MD actually wrote this piece, and there's actually gonna be a follow-up post of sorts, featuring additional thoughts on mr. lin and his merry stream of consciousness ...