Today is blog day I think. April turned out to be quite a wonderful month and May , although it is early is looking to be as well. I was looking over my bio page on the ArtFire website, and then was looking over the blog for EPJ and had to laugh because so many of my comments-sentences end with an exclamation point. It made me think of my friend and work mate Sue Moehlmann who passed away 2 years ago. Sue and I worked for a bead store, we had a very interesting relationship. It started out as respectful, then it had a very long period of being tense. Sue was very particular and somewhat negative, I on the other hand will only put up with so much crap and then I let people know that they are not on my good side. For awhile the relationship did not work at all, but after time and trials we began to more fully appreciate each other. Sue was incredibly talented. Her bead work was stunning, her designs were original, and when she looked at a picture of something that someone else had done she rarely needed any kind of instruction to achieve what was represented and somehow she would improve on the design. Her observation of life in general was dryly hysterical. I wish she had written a book based on her view points, so many of them were the voice deep inside each of our heads that has the ability to pull from a subject matter the most hideous or odd thing and bring it to light which of course makes you laugh and there keeps you partially sane. We all have this voice, but normally we do not ever let it come out. Sue did, but she did it beautifully so it was Art.
Sue had a problem with using exclamation points in just about anything. I think exclamation points were too positive for her liking. Sometimes they are like yelling, (you know when people write EVERYTHING IN CAPS is like yelling, too many of these; !!!!!! has the same effect.) but I truly think for her it was the positive angle. I would show her copy for an up coming class announcement, or a schedule, a description of a sale. She would kindly look at it, her brow would raise, then relax and she would wave her long fingers over the piece of paper raise her eyebrows again while looking down her nose at the paper and ask me if all of the exclamation points were necessary. I never fought for the exclamation points, I learned to consider it a challenge to write copy without them. How, HOW do you persuade people to be interested in a class without exclamation points? Somehow you do if you are Sue. Her classes were always well attended.
I am fairly certain that I just wrote this WHOLE thing without using exclamation points except for the illustrative ones that I used earlier. Have a great Spring. Summer is only a month and some weeks away.
(still no exclamation points) Hmmmmmmm.
