Sheri Ann Richerson at the Exoticgardening.com blog writes that she likes my recent Garden Rant quote about the unique personality of garden writers. When you are holed up in your own little home office and garden all day, you generally don't run into other garden writers except for online or by reading their work. You don't realize just how much you actually share in terms of personality traits and motivations.One of my favorite movie speeches of all time is from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Pee Wee is trying to breakup with a pesky, needy girlfriend. He tells her: "There's a lot of things about me that you don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel." Then later in the movie he runs into Mickey who tells him, "I'm bad, Pee-wee. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner. A rebel." and Pee-wee responds, "Deja Vu."
This is much funnier when Paul Reubens read those lines -- trust me (or go rent/Netflix it tonight). The reason I love that loner-rebel speech is that so many us think of ourselves in those terms -- even if we are as clearly innocent and wide-eyed as the child-like Pee-Wee. We garden writers like to talk a big, bad-ass game, but underneath that toughened bark exterior is a tender green sap just oozing out.
I like to think of myself as a rebel. But that's really just because I like to dress up in an orange jumpsuit and white bicycle helmet, and make people call me Red Leader.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post at Garden Rant and now this, I think I'm seeing garden writers quite differently now. It gives their articles a whole new twist.
ReplyDeleteFire - I'm not a jumpsuit kinda person - but I sure dug that Rebel Alliance.
ReplyDeleteCarol - Sometimes it is good to personally meet authors and it adds depth to their work when you read it; sometimes it is not so good and your impression of them in person colors your reading and makes it hard to let go of that impression. In general though, I think garden writers a good bunch of folk, though a bit noncomformist.