medium

"There ought to be clowns"
"Hey you, would you help me to carry the stone"
"She tells herself it's research for her next and greatest role"
"I wrote to ask if we could maybe meet again before the spring"
"God"

It's hard for me to separate these lyrics from the music that accompanies them. 99% of the time, they do not appear alone. There are instruments; there is passion; there is context, both in narration and inflection. They are part of a story, not only in the original composition but also in my personal narrative. And the moments appear in numerous other narratives as well: at live events, on physical media, school dances, within movies, perhaps at your lowest or highest times, etc.

As stand-alone statements, I'm just not sure of their impact. Perhaps the last, though inflection and context would still be everything. The point, however, is that every one of these (and many, many more) phrases mean a great deal to me; they make me feel; they *work*, and they *work* precisely because of the medium through which I encouter them.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately as I struggle with repurposing Twitter posts on Facebook, posting status updates through Foursquare, encountering art on the street vs. in a gallery. The medium and the message are inextricably linked. (Sure, we've heard that "the medium is the message," but the 5th quote up there proves that wrong...at least for me)

This is nothing profound or groundbreaking, but it is something that we all should remember now and again. In these days of multi-channel communication, where we encounter and pass along information through every sense and at every turn, take a moment to make completely sure that the message you are broadcasting *works* via your chosen platform.

Sure, we want a universal message. Just remember that the universe is only unified in name. Once you begin exploring, you might just find that Twitter hashtags on Facebook, rough humor on LinkedIn, sarcasm in print, etc. is actually quite alienating.

shanti,
mjh

p.s.--10 points for anyone who can place the lyrics. Points only, though, b/c Google kinda 
ruins the fun

p.s.--that last one's totally not fair, but take a stab at it anyways. There could be some interesting answers.