Comments on: tipping points http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/ an alternative worship project Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Cheryl http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75629 Cheryl Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:17:30 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75629 thanks all. helpful wisdom. thanks all. helpful wisdom.

]]> By: bec http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75418 bec Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:47:30 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75418 Cheryl...I know it doesn't help a great deal, but (a) you're certainly not the only person to have ever experienced this, and (b) it helps to have someone to laugh with. I know that I for one have been enormously entertained by the emails, letters etc that are received by some of my Muslim friends who are on the speaking circuit!! Please don't misunderstand me here: I'm not advocating passing things around to be laughed at and gossiped about, but it definitely does help to share things with people, and externalise and objectify them a bit. Sometimes you need someone else to p*** themselves laughing at something you've received, or to tear it to shreds and storm across the room to throw it into the bin, in order to see it for the loony, paranoid, hateful stuff that it is. I don't have any suggestions as to how you might protect others... Cheryl…I know it doesn’t help a great deal, but (a) you’re certainly not the only person to have ever experienced this, and (b) it helps to have someone to laugh with. I know that I for one have been enormously entertained by the emails, letters etc that are received by some of my Muslim friends who are on the speaking circuit!! Please don’t misunderstand me here: I’m not advocating passing things around to be laughed at and gossiped about, but it definitely does help to share things with people, and externalise and objectify them a bit. Sometimes you need someone else to p*** themselves laughing at something you’ve received, or to tear it to shreds and storm across the room to throw it into the bin, in order to see it for the loony, paranoid, hateful stuff that it is.

I don’t have any suggestions as to how you might protect others…

]]> By: Becky garrison http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75128 Becky garrison Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:05:59 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75128 Thanks for the clarification - i love how Jonny keeps us informed of his latest projects and appreciate you for doing the same. If you feel the outside comments are starting to hinder the creative process, you might want to switch to more private means to have parts of the dialogue kept from public view and then open it up when you feel it's ready. Glad to hear it's not a crisis as the original post made it sound as though you were at your wits end. Thanks for the clarification – i love how Jonny keeps us informed of his latest projects and appreciate you for doing the same. If you feel the outside comments are starting to hinder the creative process, you might want to switch to more private means to have parts of the dialogue kept from public view and then open it up when you feel it’s ready. Glad to hear it’s not a crisis as the original post made it sound as though you were at your wits end.

]]> By: Cheryl http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75063 Cheryl Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:38:24 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75063 thanks everyone. it's not the comments on the blog that worry me - not in the slightest, i welcome them! it is, as Kel identifies, the personal stuff - emails sent personally, which mean that people have searched pretty hard to find out how to contact me, etc. some of those emails - and i'm talking a couple of months ago now - were pretty low and offensive. i took steps then to be protected, so i'm really comfortable with that. it's really now an issue about protecting people who are part of the project... and also about the assumptions people make about how much of the website is personal. which is not a lot. thanks everyone.

it’s not the comments on the blog that worry me – not in the slightest, i welcome them! it is, as Kel identifies, the personal stuff – emails sent personally, which mean that people have searched pretty hard to find out how to contact me, etc. some of those emails – and i’m talking a couple of months ago now – were pretty low and offensive. i took steps then to be protected, so i’m really comfortable with that.

it’s really now an issue about protecting people who are part of the project… and also about the assumptions people make about how much of the website is personal. which is not a lot.

]]> By: Kel http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75061 Kel Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:32:45 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75061 Cheryl, I'm sorry to hear that blog boundaries are becoming an issue. I for one have appreciated your openess and this forum in which to read, learn, throw in a 2 cents worth comment here and there about things that are near and dear to my heart. While I love visiting and participating in others blogs about these topics, I have purposefully chosen not to touch on those topics very heavily on my own blog. Having worked in Christian publishing in the past, I've learnt that there are more than a few ungracious, arrogant and uneducated people who take great delight in attacking the personal spirituality or lifestyle of anyone who writes something they don't agree with. Boundary blurring doesn't only happen in blogs. An article of mine was published in a newsmag and the publishing company wrongly gave my personal email address to people who "wished to respond". Then other people looked me up in the phone book and rang my home to "respond". Perhaps some of this has also happened to you - especially now that you're becoming a regular columnist in The Age. It is hard. It is uncomfortable. And only you know what your boundaries need to be. may He guide you, protect you and let you know you are loved more than you can imagine. Cheryl, I’m sorry to hear that blog boundaries are becoming an issue. I for one have appreciated your openess and this forum in which to read, learn, throw in a 2 cents worth comment here and there about things that are near and dear to my heart. While I love visiting and participating in others blogs about these topics, I have purposefully chosen not to touch on those topics very heavily on my own blog. Having worked in Christian publishing in the past, I’ve learnt that there are more than a few ungracious, arrogant and uneducated people who take great delight in attacking the personal spirituality or lifestyle of anyone who writes something they don’t agree with.

Boundary blurring doesn’t only happen in blogs. An article of mine was published in a newsmag and the publishing company wrongly gave my personal email address to people who “wished to respond”. Then other people looked me up in the phone book and rang my home to “respond”. Perhaps some of this has also happened to you – especially now that you’re becoming a regular columnist in The Age. It is hard. It is uncomfortable. And only you know what your boundaries need to be.

may He guide you, protect you and let you know you are loved more than you can imagine.

]]> By: Becky garrison http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75060 Becky garrison Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:32:10 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75060 I hear what bec is saying and share her sentiments. As much as I'd love to be free and open, I've had a few experiences where I've been stalked and harassed as a writer. Hence, there are a few prescautions I have taken to protect myself both on and off line (e.g., use Post office box, don't have a home phone, and don't use master screen name as business email. changed the age of my MySpace page.) These harrassments pertained to my profession as a writer BTW so it had nothing to do with any personal information I released but rather a piece I wrote that got them either upset or enamoured well beyond a point where it was appropriate. Can you require that people identity themselves before posting blog notices? Seems the problems are coming from the anonymous folks. Just a thought. I hear what bec is saying and share her sentiments. As much as I’d love to be free and open, I’ve had a few experiences where I’ve been stalked and harassed as a writer. Hence, there are a few prescautions I have taken to protect myself both on and off line (e.g., use Post office box, don’t have a home phone, and don’t use master screen name as business email. changed the age of my MySpace page.) These harrassments pertained to my profession as a writer BTW so it had nothing to do with any personal information I released but rather a piece I wrote that got them either upset or enamoured well beyond a point where it was appropriate.

Can you require that people identity themselves before posting blog notices? Seems the problems are coming from the anonymous folks. Just a thought.

]]> By: bec http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-75012 bec Mon, 04 Jun 2007 01:43:21 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-75012 Hey Cheryl, I'm a chronic procrastinator so I don't really have much to add to the "other people's agendas" stuff, but re: the public/private...I'd be really wary of creating "private spaces", simply because nothing on the web is particularly private. It's very hard to delete anything, and it's hard to make anything particularly secure. When I started my blog, I decided to focus on "professional" stuff for that very reason - I don't want it to stray too much into the personal, just like I wouldn't want to publish anything particularly personal in an academic journal!! I still think real life is best for personal conversations... Hey Cheryl,
I’m a chronic procrastinator so I don’t really have much to add to the “other people’s agendas” stuff, but re: the public/private…I’d be really wary of creating “private spaces”, simply because nothing on the web is particularly private. It’s very hard to delete anything, and it’s hard to make anything particularly secure. When I started my blog, I decided to focus on “professional” stuff for that very reason – I don’t want it to stray too much into the personal, just like I wouldn’t want to publish anything particularly personal in an academic journal!! I still think real life is best for personal conversations…

]]> By: Becky garrison http://holdthisspace.org.au/tipping-points/comment-page-1/#comment-74991 Becky garrison Mon, 04 Jun 2007 00:18:29 +0000 http://alternative.victas.uca.org.au/index.php/2007/06/04/tipping-points/#comment-74991 What you said really, really resonated with me - as a freelancer I struggle with how to keep to deadlines without letting others agendas get in the way. One thing I've found is whenever I begin a major book project, all hell breaks loose. This has happened enough that I am learning to recognize the warning signs and stop it sooner. I also force myself to take at least 1/2 day each week to go flyfishing or sailing as the water is how I really reconnect to God - I wasn't able to take these breaks for a few months due to very tight book deadlines and it bit me in the end. Just now recovering from the bites. I find when I'm stressed and disconnected, I tend to make mistakes - e.g., emailing someone more than is necessary, asking the same question twice and generally having a mind that shorts out. I am not sure if this is the solution but when I was at Book Expo here in NYC, I picked up a bunch of books for my summer reading - made sure I grabbed the latest prayer book by Thich Nhat Hahn and a new book on Celtic prayer as I sense I need a refresher in the basics. I get more than my share of nasty comments - I respond to those who are genuinely inquisitive but there are a lot of haters out there that have this global rage that never calms down or even has a positive end in sight - and I don't have the cosmic energy to deal with that. What you said really, really resonated with me – as a freelancer I struggle with how to keep to deadlines without letting others agendas get in the way. One thing I’ve found is whenever I begin a major book project, all hell breaks loose. This has happened enough that I am learning to recognize the warning signs and stop it sooner. I also force myself to take at least 1/2 day each week to go flyfishing or sailing as the water is how I really reconnect to God – I wasn’t able to take these breaks for a few months due to very tight book deadlines and it bit me in the end. Just now recovering from the bites.

I find when I’m stressed and disconnected, I tend to make mistakes – e.g., emailing someone more than is necessary, asking the same question twice and generally having a mind that shorts out. I am not sure if this is the solution but when I was at Book Expo here in NYC, I picked up a bunch of books for my summer reading – made sure I grabbed the latest prayer book by Thich Nhat Hahn and a new book on Celtic prayer as I sense I need a refresher in the basics.

I get more than my share of nasty comments – I respond to those who are genuinely inquisitive but there are a lot of haters out there that have this global rage that never calms down or even has a positive end in sight – and I don’t have the cosmic energy to deal with that.

]]>