member applications
08/04/2004 09:50 p.m.
just a few suggestions to people who are applying to pathetic.org:

1. check your grammar and spelling. maybe I'm the only one completely and totally annoyed by that, but my vote counts, kiddies. it seems to imply that you don't really care enough about what you're doing to check things over. and there's no way I'm going to invite some bad-spelling, no-grammar-knowing person onto the site for me to run into and be annoyed by later. sorry.

2. big words do NOT equal good poems. if you love the word "indefatigable," go ahead and put it in there. but don't use "vainglorious" and "sanguivorous" in the same poem. no one needs that. as much as I love a poet with great word choice, content is infinitely more important, and if no one knows what you're saying, no one will care.

3. originality IS important. especially when you decide what poem to use on your application. influences are great. I know I have a few from which I take ideas or forms or ways of speaking. however, the way to get people to press that "Accept" button is to stand out from every other applicant. don't throw a Fiona Apple lyric at me. I like Fiona, and we can talk about that once you prove to me that you have something to say that she hasn't already said.

4. self esteem is one thing; arrogance is quite another. don't tell me, "I am a good writer." I'll be the judge of that when I read what you write. the essay is probably more important to me than the poem, in all honesty. if you sound like you've been through some things and have some stuff to get off your chest creatively, I'm all about you. but if you're saying, "I'm great. I've done this before on other sites and THEY said I was great, so I'm great. you'll regret not letting me in cause I'm SO GREAT," I'm not listening. I've tuned you out, and I may not even read your poem. if I do, I'm certainly predisposed to decline it. I don't need anybody like that commenting on my poems or posting in a forum I'm going to read.

just a little reaction to voting on some applications this evening. it's probably been said, but I wanted to say it again.
I am currently Fine
I am listening to "So in Love" by Ella Fitzgerald