When are we having our veg*an cookoff?

Thanks for commenting, and I’m sorry it took so long to get your comment approved. I didn’t get the usual notification and I almost missed it.

I thought one of the weirder commenting trends to come out of this was people telling me that I think “they” (writers) should do this or that, or that I wasn’t “established” enough to comment. As if the moment I had a differing opinion, I ceased to be a “real” writer. I’ve had people telling me I don’t value my own work, or that I’m a “trained seal” if I find alternate ways to profit from it.

But my perspective is the opposite: I am going to profit from the fruits of my own mind and hands come hell or high water. Writers are creative people, and we should take no shame in finding creative ways to benefit from our own work, in our own way. And there is room for every writer to have his or own career, that differs creatively and economically from others.

If you’d like to read another outspoken perspective on the video in question, I’d suggest you go have a look at this post: http://thegrumpyowl.com/2011/02/16/canadian-hypocrites-speak-out-on-copyright/

i sadly have been watching from the sideliens for the past few months as my fellow artists & writers have completely misinterpreted fair-dealing.

it is such a tricky situation because the second anybody speaks out against the stance of the various unions it is seen as artist-bashing, and we all know that artists are one of the few groups that very few people will allow to be bullied.

i have long thought that the ONLY group that could counter this train-of-thought would be other artists. other artists who would be willing to stand up and speak for the value of our work in the classroom, clarify that it does not mean everything is free, and stop the culture of fear that has spread throughout our community. i wanted to call this group ‘artists for fair dealing’, but alas it has died.

and sadly, so will this bill (although there are scarier parts of the bill i do wish artists were being more vocal about). elections will be called soon and then we’ll go back to the drawing board.