pipemakersforum.com

The Winter P&T just came out, and there's an article with my byline in it.

Bottom line: if I could make the article disappear from every copy this second with a magic wand, I would.

I thought it was going to be titled, "The Old Man and the Plaque". As in, a play on Hemingway's "The Old man and the Sea".

Instead, it was given some egotistical-sounding "yadda yadda repairman experience yadda yadda" title that I had nothing to do with.

Well.. THE FUCKING STORY WASN'T ABOUT ME.

Hell, just going with the obvious-but-serviceable "Bright Segment" would have been fine.

NOW it looks like I'm some sort of opportunistic, recognition-hungry asshole trying to capitalize on an old man's misfortune by telling a story about it.

If I was still young enough to punch holes in walls without breaking my hands, I would.

Mmmmmm editors.

I read the article and enjoyed it. I think it had to be told from the repair mans point of view. You are reading into it because its about you. The average reader wont look at it the same way. Its the same as taking a group photo and everyone is ok with the way the photo looks, except everyone is self conscious of the way THEY look.

I understand what you mean, Joe, but think this P&T thing is more a case of how titles frame perceptions.

A good example happened here on PF recently. Tyler started a thread asking what you guys took into consideration when designing and making your pipes with regard to long-term service and durability. A simple question, and a reasonable subject for discussion, I think.

But he TITLED it, "The importance of making pipes with the repairman in mind" which could be interpreted in ways ranging from technical to emotional, and people arguing about what was actually being implicitly asked BY the title eventually sank the thread.

The story told in the P&T article was one of the most moving things that's happened to me in years, and how it came about was totally unplanned. It just happened. And it was pure. The guy in the story was enormously wealthy, but money never figured into it. I never took a cent to do the work, and refused payment from Chuck for the article in order to keep it pure.

And then, at the very end, at the last possible instant, it goes to press with a garish and clumsy title that tries to frame it a WORKSHOP drama instead of a HUMAN one, with me at the center instead of the man who owned the pipes.

That is simply fucked up. Like a crystal globe chandelier that took years to make being dropped as it was being installed, or something.

I'm going to get a subscription and read it. You probably have a reason to be pissed at them.Your analogy is not wasted.Some do because they have to and others because they are compelled by the things that allow us to be better. You do know the difference! I know you have made others better with your endeavors.
In short, Don't worry about all the little things.

George, I thought it was a good article.

IAWB. I read it last night and thought it was the best part of the issue. I can relate though, George. I hated the article they did on me. I suspect it has more to do with a tendency to not liking being the center of attention. Makes me quite uncomfortable. Hell, since I was a kid I wouldn't even let my mother celebrate my birthday. True story.

LatakiaLover wrote: A good example happened here on PF recently. Tyler started a thread asking what you guys took into consideration when designing and making your pipes with regard to long-term service and durability. A simple question, and a reasonable subject for discussion, I think.

But he TITLED it, "The importance of making pipes with the repairman in mind" which could be interpreted in ways ranging from technical to emotional, and people arguing about what was actually being implicitly asked BY the title eventually sank the thread.

Sorry to hi-jack, but... Huh??

Tyler wrote:

LatakiaLover wrote: A good example happened here on PF recently. Tyler started a thread asking what you guys took into consideration when designing and making your pipes with regard to long-term service and durability. A simple question, and a reasonable subject for discussion, I think.

But he TITLED it, "The importance of making pipes with the repairman in mind" which could be interpreted in ways ranging from technical to emotional, and people arguing about what was actually being implicitly asked BY the title eventually sank the thread.

Sorry to hi-jack, but... Huh??

It's alternate universe stuff. You wouldn't understand. Suffice it to say George is a plane shifter so that should explain a whole lot.

Tyler wrote:

LatakiaLover wrote: A good example happened here on PF recently. Tyler started a thread asking what you guys took into consideration when designing and making your pipes with regard to long-term service and durability. A simple question, and a reasonable subject for discussion, I think.

But he TITLED it, "The importance of making pipes with the repairman in mind" which could be interpreted in ways ranging from technical to emotional, and people arguing about what was actually being implicitly asked BY the title eventually sank the thread.

Sorry to hi-jack, but... Huh??

You're too young for Alzheimer's, so it must be all those petroleum fumes. (or maybe repeated concussions from the fracking?)

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9959

George,
Although you didn't want the article to be about you, you're making it ALL ABOUT YOU here on the forum..........you narcissistic old coot!

Still, I thought the article was great and didn't read anything other than you doing fine work, the man was brought to tears by your skilled hands, the end.

I read the same article Bruce did. I felt the same way too. I was even moved a little by the old mans reaction.

baweaverpipes wrote:George,
Although you didn't want the article to be about you, you're making it ALL ABOUT YOU here on the forum..........you narcissistic old coot!

The "damned if you do, damned if you don't" thing isn't lost on me, I assure you. It's part of what pisses me off, in fact. (Being an old school book-lover I never thought I'd say it, but on this occasion I wish P&T was entirely digital. Then the title COULD be fixed.)

After a night of it eating at me, I just couldn't let it go, is all. It felt so fucking WRONG, and not speaking up could/would be seen as implicit agreement with the title's perspective.

PS --- The old man died the day before Chuck told me the Winter issue was finished and would start shipping. It was planned several times, but I never got to meet him. I guess that figures into my state of mind regarding all this.

My apologies for being so tedious, and thanks for the kind words about the story.

As Paul Harvey would have said: "And now you know the rest of the story."

If you look at the fact that you were involved in what was probably the best thing to happen to him in the last year of his life, then the article is such a small issue you shouldn't let it bother you at all George.