tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764290.post5231434095863937293..comments2024-03-22T08:01:16.236-04:00Comments on Rebecca Tushnet's 43(B)log: criticizing other women's pleasuresUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764290.post-14431545941544523612008-12-05T19:43:00.000-05:002008-12-05T19:43:00.000-05:00Dana: I think the comparison to webpages is a grea...Dana: I think the comparison to webpages is a great one. On the other hand, scrapbooks seem to foreground visual design more than many webpages do. Scrapbooking seems more associated with memorializing, while most webpages are about change. But that doesn't necessarily require an emphasis on design, which is what Helfand sees. I guess one issue is whether prefab designs are taking the place of homecooked designs when the design itself is a big part of the process. Helfand seems to think that current scrapbooking industry encourages women, essentially, to make really pretty Jello molds, when she'd like to see them cooking from scratch. And I see both sides of that. Who doesn't like a boost to get started, especially when you're busy?<BR/><BR/>I also like the link to the mass mailed holiday letter--it's very similar.RThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00850241338827117087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764290.post-90863275651120089952008-12-05T19:19:00.000-05:002008-12-05T19:19:00.000-05:00Thank you for posting on this. I noticed the enorm...Thank you for posting on this. I noticed the enormous boom in prepackaged scrapbook supplies about eight years ago; I guess it's a burgeoning industry. I think people appreciate a boost to get started; kind of like using templates to build your web page, you know? <BR/><BR/>In part people who do this want to gussy themselves up, but also, it's a very real impulse toward hands on creativity in an ethereal world.... almost taking the place letters used to occupy before they became phone calls, I think. <BR/><BR/>I see a link to the mass mailed Christmas letter, too. <BR/><BR/>People don't sew as much as they used to, either, but this is definitely creative even if it uses some prepackaged stuff. And definitely overwhelmingly pursued by women. <BR/><BR/>Thanks again for the food for thought.<BR/><BR/>DanaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764290.post-25803827895628656282008-12-05T14:37:00.000-05:002008-12-05T14:37:00.000-05:00I don't know enough to be sure about scrapbooking'...I don't know enough to be sure about scrapbooking's origins, though I ordered Helfand's book. And she herself disclaims sociological expertise. But she does discuss scrapbooks from the past that seem messier, more like MySpace than Facebook pages. What we don't know is what the differences are in her samples: whether the percentage of carefully self-editing scrapbookers has changed; what the class etc. differences are; and so on. My sense, reinforced by Abercrombie and Longhurst, is that our techniques of self-presentation through creative work have changed a lot over the past century, with major positives and major negatives. It's easy to feel nostalgia for what's been lost. I'm a fan of celebrating ordinary creativity, and that ends up requiring some fancy footwork to reconcile with my sense that yeah, maybe scrapbookers would be better off rejecting preprinted stickers and so on. They have their reasons for picking the preprinted stuff, after all, or it wouldn't sell; but the fact that it's being promoted to them as a way of making nicer scrapbooks helps change their preferences, so as usual it's a big mess.RThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00850241338827117087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5764290.post-1577274425309474232008-12-05T14:00:00.000-05:002008-12-05T14:00:00.000-05:00Thanks for the fascinating post. Do you agree wit...Thanks for the fascinating post. Do you agree with Helfand's statement that "the whole purpose [of scrapbooks originally] was to celebrate the everyday”?<BR/><BR/>I don't know anything about scrapbooks. But I wouldn't be surprised if the modern scrapbook fits relatively easily into a framework of other creative practices devoted to preserving family history. And that these creative practices detailing family history may serve some biological end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com