Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Oh Brothers...
I met with a guy named John Bryan. He is an uberadvocate for the arts in Richmond. He works for this advocacy through arts outfit called Culture Works (white guy). He likes to be up on all the happening artistic goings on and was intrigued about BMR. Dude wants to sit in on a book discussion and blog about us on his blog. You all game?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Y'know what Hobbs, I've been thinking about this since you sent me an e-mail about it the other day. Now, I'll go along with whatever the rest of the brothers want---I won't be an obstructionist---but the more I think about it, a few things come to mind: for one, we only have five meetings a year. No, I don't want any more than that; I think that's the right amount, but still, they're precious. Having people inside the room who won't be joining the group seems like something of an intrusion to me.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, again, the more I think about it---and I haven't met this dude, so it ain't personal---but this sounds like some voyeur-type ish to me. So we've got a black male reading group. If he likes the idea, great. If he doesn't, big deal. What does HE gain from sitting in? And more importantly, what do WE gain from him sitting in?
I mean, our group name is supposed to be IRONIC! The idea that someone is in the room who might well think, "Black men read?!---wow, who knew?" And that guy is---what?---sitting there, in the room, "observing"? C'mon, man, this ain't no dog-and-pony show.
Personally, I don't need publicity for Black Men Read?!---and it's cool if others feel differently about that, as long as I don't have to walk out of my way. But I surely don't need to have someone who can't even join the group inside the room for the sake of publicity. Just don't need it...
Up until now, anyone who attended a meeting did so at least in part because he was possibly interested in joining. But this guy CAN'T join, because he's ineligible. So what's the point? Just to satisfy his curiosity? I'm not down. Sounds a little close to the whole "I like to watch"-type noise, and I don't see what's in it for us to allow us to be "watched"....
I mean, there's a possibility as many as three guys (key word: "possibility") who might come to our September meeting who haven't come before. Why have the dynamic we've established altered, even for one meeting? We only have five...
I'd be interested to hear what other brothers think; I'm thinking out loud here; even though Hobbs sent me an e-mail about it a couple of days ago, I'm still feeling a bit blindsided by this thing. It's something I never thought would be raised---maybe we need to have a policy discussion, on both membership eligibility AND visitors...