Whatever Happened to Joe the Plumber?
Remember him during the 2008 presidential campaign? I have't kept up, I guess. My bad.
That set me to thinking of our "fifteen minutes of fame" occurring once in our lifetimes. Have you gotten to bask in your fifteen minutes under the limelights? If so, how was it? Or maybe you've cashed in your fifteen minutes and didn't even know it. Pity.
I've heard or read of other authors who worry about their literary legacy. They sweat over whether their words will live on after they die. Of course, the statistical answer stares them square in the face: NO!
Look it, every year the library systems cull out millions of books from their systems. They have no choice. Millions of more new books are getting published and distributed. Your and my books will get pulled. The next generations will ask WHO? if our names ever come up in converations.
Or maybe there's an eternal quality to cyberspace and our e-books will remain out there for the future readers to download, or ignore.
Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
That set me to thinking of our "fifteen minutes of fame" occurring once in our lifetimes. Have you gotten to bask in your fifteen minutes under the limelights? If so, how was it? Or maybe you've cashed in your fifteen minutes and didn't even know it. Pity.
I've heard or read of other authors who worry about their literary legacy. They sweat over whether their words will live on after they die. Of course, the statistical answer stares them square in the face: NO!
Look it, every year the library systems cull out millions of books from their systems. They have no choice. Millions of more new books are getting published and distributed. Your and my books will get pulled. The next generations will ask WHO? if our names ever come up in converations.
Or maybe there's an eternal quality to cyberspace and our e-books will remain out there for the future readers to download, or ignore.
Ed Lynskey
@edlynskey
Author of Lake Charles
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Stephen wrote: "I'm pretty sure I would find fame embarrassing and tedious. That does not mean I wouldn't be delighted to see general acknowledgment that something I'd written or done had value, but I just don't e..."Good points, Steve. FDR is an unknown. Wow. Thanks for the comments.
How many who don't know who FDR was - know who Lady Ga Ga is? The answer tells all.Bottom line is we can't write for the public - we write because we have to - like breathing.
Breathe in - breathe out - there's no such thing as 15 minutes of fame any longer - more like 15 seconds - if you're even aware of it. Being true to yourself is all that remains.
Joe is running for Congress here in Ohio and has been endorsesd by Ohio Right to Life.
Marley wrote: "Joe is running for Congress here in Ohio and has been endorsesd by Ohio Right to Life."Thanks for the update. Glad he's doing well. Always good to hear.
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For a sobering take on the permanence of fame, choose any collection of names, starting, say, with FDR, and see how many high school kids even recognize them, let alone know why they were important or when they lived. It's scary.
I don't know much about Joe the Plumber, but have been thinking of him while reading a memoir by a soldier who fought in Desert Storm. This guy is not a writer, and will not make a splash, but the fact that he has a story to tell, and tells it in a geniune voice, leads me to suspend my normally critical judgments. It helps me to understand that writing can have value even when it comes from someone you'd never expect it from.