The sky outside my window is the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

[scarlettina]

The freezing rain comes down, then stops, then comes down. I am tempted to hit the grocery store to stock up ... only up until I remember that it means going out into the cold, intermittent precipitation. I'll get there. I just have to steel myself for it. The trees outside the window are writhing in the steel-gray day, the branches waving back and forth as if it say, "Don't do it! Don't leave the house!" But I really do need to. And I have a problem: I suddenly have a hankering for lasagna, yet I don't feel ambitious enough to make it myself (but mine's the best!). Maybe I'll buy something frozen. Hm.

I seem to have touched a chord with my post about generalists vs. specialists. Somehow I wasn't expecting that. The responses have been interesting, some unexpected. A couple of quotes of interest to me:

garyomaha said: Add me to the list of generalists. I think it's in large part because I love learning about stuff and I love variety in life.

I think he's really got a point there. There's too much stuff in the world for me to focus. Maybe it's the latent ADHDer in me. I want to do all this stuff.... Ooh, look, shiny!

wanton_heat_jet said: Specialists have the obvious advantage that they seem special even to strangers. And who doesn't want to be recognized as special? Generalists seem unexceptional to strangers, but those who know them well know just how special they are.

I guess perception is a big part of it, isn't it? Specialists do have a certain star quality, don't they, even beyond those who are friends and who we'd love anyway.

oldmangrumpus said: Just remember that specialization leads to extinction. The human race has been successful because we're generalists.

Survival of the fittest; fair enough. There's comfort in that. And it's matter of perspective, too, isn't it? It's a biased one, since we're here because so many specialists failed in the winnowing out process that produced us generalists.

And then there are the folks who chose different monikers for the "generalist" descriptor. I like some of them a great deal. robespierrette suggests "renaissance woman" or "dilettante". I like the former; the latter, though it has appeal, can and has been turned against people (um, usually by specialists). sleightgirl thinks of her generalist self as "a prodigy of quantity." Though I'd argue that she's a specialist, I certainly see her point and I like the expression she's coined.

Those specialists who responded admit to angst about making the necessary choices to be same. And here's the thing that I don't know if I was clear about in my last post: I admire the hell out of the specialists. There seemed to be a certain chagrin in those admitting to specialist status—no chagrin allowed!

In other news, I attended anitar's memorial today. There were many people. There was a prodigious amount of food. There was lots of talk. There was music. And there was a lot of love. I hate having to send her off, but having no choice in the matter, I'm pretty good with the way we did it. The group in attendance was but a small sampling of the many communities she touched and was, as paulcarp pointed out, weighted heavily from the science fiction community because of how intensely networked we are. But the many messages that were shared from the many communities she was a part of was a demonstration of the many people she touched. It was, in short, a goodness. Wherever anitar is now, she's probably organizing spirits for something or other--a heavenly Trolloween, perhaps. I hope she approved of the organization of today's event. I suspect she does.

Comments

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

The sleep study I did last night ran too late, and I was too dopey, groggy, and miserable by the time it was done, for me to get to Anita's memorial today. I'm glad it was...as happy an event as you can have when it denotes the death of a loved person, and one that she would have approved of.

[bedii.livejournal.com]

We'd planned to go but ladyjestocost was having another day unable to sit in a chair for longer than ten minutes or so or to walk much beyond 100 feet...

[oldmangrumpus.livejournal.com]

In other news, I attended anitar's memorial today.

Hmm ... I'd have gone if I'd known.

oldmangrumpus said: Just remember that specialization leads to extinction. The human race has been successful because we're generalists.

Survival of the fittest; fair enough. There's comfort in that. And it's matter of perspective, too, isn't it? It's a biased one, since we're here because so many specialists failed in the winnowing out process that produced us generalists.

It's more than survival of the fittest. Those that have more options are better able to survive new situations.