Scenes from Wake's 200th

Something to take your mind off the pain of the last two contests for the now-officially-flailing Red Sox.

Embiggen slideshow

Comments

[Lauren]

I am just going to convince myself that these scenes are from all our games. all of them. Kyle Weilland who?

[Bob]

What a great show! Thanks!!

[FromThisSeat.com]

Great shots. Loved Wakefield. Can't wait for the day when he is inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.

[Maxwell Horse]

It's kind of sad that you seem not to be updating your blog anymore. Your writing was great. I've encountered other blogs where the former writer would make a quick update explaining that "tweets" took the place of blogging, and somehow fulfilled the same need (both for the writer and the audience, I suppose) that their blog writing used to. I'm guessing that's what happened here.

I hope that's not your view. I can understand if life has made thoughtful and frequent writing impossible. (I sure as hell couldn't maintain any kind of quality blog myself for that reason.) But I hope you aren't of the personal opinion that "tweets" are just as good (or better) than a well crafted, even sometimes poetic essay.

Good writing can do so many things. It can make the reader wonder, cry, believe in a fictional character, or take them to another place. "Tweets" do none of that. At best, they can provide a juicy bit of gossip, or provide some cheap one-liners. (As if the digital age isn't already full of those.) It's communication at its most superficial and forgettable, and it's pretty sad that it (and "texting") seem to have supplanted most of the richer and deeper forms of expression in the world.

I kind of wish you'd bust out here with some prose again. And by "prose," I mean stuff which requires more than 4 seconds of investment from a reader.

I remember Stephen King used to be asked in interviews whether he'd ever considered going to therapy. (Because he writes horror, so clearly he must be disturbed.) He always gave an answer that, while clearly meant to elicit a chuckle, was also clearly true. He'd say that if he went to a therapist, he'd get out all his demons and pay someone else for it. But by not going to therapy, he could explore all those thoughts through his writing, and HE would get paid for it.

I just bring this up because I'd guess you, like so many once-active bloggers, find that Twitter "gets the writing demons out." To be able to release those spontaneous thoughts out to the world is kind of like going to that therapist who Stephen King refused. Unforutnately, it's hard to cook up anything very meaty or substantial inside a pressure cooker that keeps letting off steam. And the world (or at least the shrinking world that still appreciates thoughtfulness and complexity) is poorer for it.

Sorry for the length, but it's kind of appropriate given the subject.

[Beth]

Maxwell, thank you for your thoughtful comment, and of course there's never any need to apologize to me for length! :)

I definitely don't believe that Tweeting replaces 'real' writing, it's just been the most I can manage lately due to some family and health problems going on in my life. Like you, I hope this will change, and it may soon...

[Maxwell Horse]

Great. Thanks for the response. I should've known something life-interference-related was at play when you didn't comment on the Moulin Rouge-caliber spectacle that was the closing of the Red Sox season. I look forward to any of your future stuff.