It is my nature to be protective of others.  Natural instincts that I have followed throughout my life… require me to support my friends, protect strangers at risk, and provide help and guidance wherever possible. This should be fairly straightforward and clear.  It is not.

The assumptions associated with such base instincts have recently reared up for closer examination.  We do make more assumptions than might be immediately obvious.  We assume that we are working from a stable platform.  We assume that we know who we are communicating with.   We assume that we understand the rules of the game.   We assume that bad shit will always happen to the other guy. 

Unfortunately, when our assumptions are proven wrong and instincts are called into question, it calls for a reassessment of the landscape.  The net result is that my spidey-sense is screaming to rush to someone’s defense here in the OS, but I honestly don’t know “who is on first,” it looks like much of the dust has settled, and I barely recognize the landscape.  

I took a couple of days to revisit my personal life, and (at the risk of being late to the party) obvious things have happened in my absence, things apparent to all who can read and all who have blogs here in the Open Salon.  A long time favorite and friend is abused on a post that is obviously designed to embarrass him.  He, is also clearly pissed about a lot of things and has taken down his posts. He seems to be strongly re-evaluating his future involvement here.  I am deeply saddened by this and much of what has happened to him is Kind of Wrong.  I want to rush in with aid for the wounded and literary bullets for the guilty parties… but I don’t know who to shoot, and it feels like it would be even more destructive to further dredge up who did what to whom.

In addition, the relatively new advertisements throughout the salon represent the inevitable need to pay the rent… but admittedly they strongly offend my artistic senses.  (I had wrongly come to view this as my blog and it is not.  I am merely another blogger here in the Open Salon.)  If I can resurrect the muscles that I use to cope with change, I am confident that all will be alright.  If not, I guess I will have to find another utility... which would bother me a great deal.  I like it here.  (I have also observed that the salon in general has already seemed to adapt to the new advertisements and is moving forward.  It's kind of like new bill boards littering the landscape, but the highways have not slowed down one bit.)

What feels far less obvious is that the Open Salon itelf is in a flux state.  It is seeking to grow and mature in ways that will enable it to be self funding and a bigger stepping stone to the whole thing... and the whole thing is more than just the World Wide Web.  That, to me, is the part that I personally could not see and easily overlooked.   It is far too easy to view this salon as a major forum onto itself… and it is not.  

If it works, it is a stepping stone, an incubator, a laboratory… a place to develop and test-drive new stuff, and hopefully be a magnet for talent.   Imagine the talent emulsions if the OS seriously can attract known and proven writers along with new and emerging writers who can write in harmony about … the myriad of things that move them.  Imagine the pull of a collective voice that powerful, if both the editorial staff and our members can actually nurture talent and grow this vehicle to find its audience within the World Wide Web and to the new hybrid audiences served. 

The Editorial Staff has a massive challenge here whether it chooses to rock it or not.  It can simply be a doorway … inviting those of us who feel the call (or share the calling) to enter… or it can actually be a developmental showcase for a vast spectrum of styles, genres and stages of proficiency.  If it is to be effective as the latter… then we won’t have the kind of issues that we struggle with regarding Editors Picks and the tools of popularity.   The objective of the cover and the feeds and such would be ill served by trying to boost the popularity of the proven, established and wildly popular folks who already have a following.   Instead, the objective would be to broaden the spectrum of writing styles and the number of people who gain deserved recognition… which is understandably not everybody.  This means the Editors will have to embrace a process solution to identify and feature a much broader range of talented posts.  This becomes easier to accept in the context of the salon as just a small part the development engine, given the evolving role of the written word today.

What also feels less obvious is the moving target that writers must acknowledge at some point here.   A long time friend who has routinely contributed posts here within the Open Salon was seeking to explain to me just how tentative opportunities for writers have become.   The percentage of successful writers, journalists, reports, etc. has become infinitely smaller when compared to the whole.   Newspapers are a shade of their former selves and unless you are one of the recognized elite, competing to have your book published by the established houses is more difficult than ever. 

It would be easy to simply blame it on the Internet as the source of information, entertainment and networking… except that we still don’t know where the Internet is going either.  It is in a constant state of growth and evolution… and it will feature the cream of the crop when next it blooms. 

I choose to believe that the Editors and staff of the Open Salon, are already well aware and far more attuned to the direction and potential represented here and are striving to prepare us/the salon to allow that cream to rise to the top.   First they needed to develop a viable membership. Then they needed to make it financially viable.   Next they need to allow the nurturing aspects of the program to emerge and mature. 

I make these assumptions because my spidey-sense is screaming for me to believe that the pilot of this plane knows how to handle turbulence, knows how to navigate blind when necessary, and knows how to land the friggin’ plane dammit.   Our job as members and bloggers in this kitchen is to be effective passengers, good cooks, and not mess up things for each other... or for the salon itself. (NOTE: "Good passengers" has nothing to do with how well behaved we are.  Folks should be allowed to be obnoxious, critical, spiteful, ugly, playful, and cantankerous when commenting on the written work.  But attacking other members is unruly behavior and wrong.)  We don’t have to be the best of friends, but I firmly believe that truly unruly passengers should be thrown off the plane. Everyone else deserves respect and indulgence.  I’m just saying.

Cross your fingers, relax your shoulders and the muscles in your neck, stop hatin’… and keep writing.