ars gratia artis
Excellencies: my entries are usually long and dawdling, given my penchant for writing them in Cyrano-style, and not actually sitting down to compose them until I’ve combed the city for some time and collected a veritable stockpile of anecdotes, thoughts, or other such things relevant to the trials and trivialities of my life. Given the length of the entries, however, and the possibility of one skipping ahead or skipping out before their conclusion, I am posting this entirely independent from my normal posts, so that it might receive the proper attention it deserves.
Ali writes:
I am taking a class that's basically web design for kindergardeners. So I have to make a site for my final project, and I was thinking of perhaps making a site for you/of your work. I'd need you to sned me lots o' pics of your work, a CV perhaps, and anything else you'd want on there--writings perhaps? political cartoons? Give it a little thought if you're interested...
Turns out, I am interested.
This is where you kids come in. I’ve petitioned before; I’m petitioning again. If you read this lovely forum, I’ve likely writ you things, and in those things written I’ve likely enclosed art, be it in the form of envelopes, letters in the form of illuminated manuscripts, or even exciting things like posters. Now, I realize that you may all be terrifically attached to them, but if you could but part with them for the few seconds it takes to scan them, or photograph them, and e-mail me these images, it is not only I who would be much obliged, but also the veritably delightful Ms. Gitlow.
Some of you have been awesome about this already, and sent me images of part of your collections of my work; others have even be gracious enough to make me physical copies - to you kids, I say thank you, but also, dig deep, brothers and sisters! Anything, anything at all that you’ve in your possession (naturally, within reasonable relevance), be it doodles, sketches, pen and ink lithographs, triptychs, watercoloured birthday posters, medieval woodcuts, blueprints for inventions (you know, for kids!), full-length autobiographies, formal portraits, etc. - if I’ve made it, I want it.
Except I don't even want it - I just want an image of it: e-mail it, post it on a website, upload it to a photobucket account, I don’t care, as long as you get it to me with all due haste. In terms of stuff drawn on letters, no worries - the writing around it can be edited out, so the individual intimacies of said print will not be compromised in this epic effort to somehow keep track of our work of recent years. And, archival merits aside, you’ll be helping Ali in her graduate school quests.
So, do that, and many earnest thanks in advance.