There is no doubt in my mind that video has defeated writing and even standalone music as a medium. Next on the horizon is 3D video, which will defeat 2D video in the long run. I missed the boat to the video revolution. There were no cheap cameras available to me growing up, other than a single $69.95 Polaroid that I bought and used on many occasion, each grainy, low-resolution instant photo costing $1-$2 in 1980 dollars! Video was beyond the reach of a young person of my means.
I have been invited, along with many people in a group, to tell my story in front of a video camera, but I'm camera-shy and convinced I would not make a good showing. I've never liked public speaking, which is essentially what videos are.
I like writing better. I love the delete key. Writing allows me to parse my thoughts in a more organized fashion. Only in writing do I feel like I have a measure of control over the final product.
I have a love of big words, and my prose has a business-like or legal flavor to some ears. Some people find me arrogant because of my word choices and the way that I speak. But I was brought up to speak in the way I do, both my parents being involved in education. I loved words from the start and was an avid reader. The SAT and other standardized tests informed me that my verbal aptitude outstripped my mathematical aptitude.
In class yesterday, I was discussing grocery stores with another student, and said, "I like Publix, but would not suggest Food Lion." She looked away from me and said in a derisive tone, "He said he would not suggest Food Lion." I've noticed that she has the stick for most people, including our innocuous professor, so I was not offended, but I found it interesting that my manner of speech was an issue again. That has long been the case.
In my teenage years, I adopted an urban Southern slang, with many words and phrases borrowed from the black culture, in order to deflect criticism. I used words like "ain't," except I shorted it to "ain," just as most words became shortened. Slang tries to render English briefer, more fluid, and obscene. Every other word was "f*" or "s*" in order to express the emotional context. The four-letter words functioned as verbs, nouns, adjectives, and sometimes adverbs. I had to drop this cant in college in order to receive any respect from students and professors. There is such a thing as going too far in the other direction. So I reverted to my indigenous style, which is also the way I write.
I remember as far back as the eighth grade, I was standing up on a bus facing the other boys and trying to tell a funny story that I had heard from a comedian. I thought I was doing a good job, until my old enemy, who harassed me through first grade to eighth, crept behind me and kicked me in the butt, which aborted my story-telling, not that anyone cared. In retrospect, I wasn't a natural at story-telling. The comedian did a much better job. Besides, the comedian was not a popular one, but a regional comedian that had been popular ten or twenty years ago. My parents liked him, but not many other people did, a point I was not aware of at the time.
I knew my enemy was stronger, so I did not have a chance of prevailing in a fight, but he was also intelligent and would listen if I argued with him, because he thought he could out-argue anyone, in addition to out-fight. I moved to the front of the bus, where he sat. The bus driver scolded me for moving, which I thought was ironic, because he had said nothing in the case of my enemy. Nevertheless, I apologized and stared straight ahead until the bus driver quit looking at me through the mirror. Then I turned to my enemy, calling him by his name. He could not ignore me, although he tried. I was not to be deterred by insults, but stared into his eyes. Nothing else had any moment for me, not the bus, the bus driver, or the others. Eventually he turned to face me. When I asked him why he did it, he said it was because I had a big head and thought I was better than everyone else. I told him that was not the case. Why did he think so? He said that I used big words, and the reason must be that I was showing off. I was not aware of using big words, so I asked him which ones in particular he had in mind. He said words like "beyond" were not used by anyone else, and I was just showing off by using them. I told him I didn't think "beyond" was a big word. It was used by many people and showed up in many books. He begged to differ.
He was at that moment, as always, in the company of the prettiest boy in the school. While we argued, my eyes darted to his long-term companion and then back to him, and I grinned, as if to say, "I know your secret, and if you bother me again, I will tell others."
He never hit me again and endeavored to avoid crossing my path. The last time I saw him, he was standing by the flat tire of his car, looking perplexed. I walked past him without a word. Anyone else, I would have helped, because my house was just a block away. He said nothing to me, knowing I had the memory of many wrongs committed by him, not just the one I have recounted.
His father dropped dead in his manager's office of a heart attack. I do not think the lemon fell far from the tree. Egoism sometimes rewards the bearer with material success, but it is a lonely and fretful existence.
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