52 Comments

"No one would think of shouting into this quiet, beautiful space when something they’ve offered has sold. When a sale did happen, no one would be bragging it up, waving the check around, showing off bank statements, explaining to the crowd how successful they’ve been at this particular gallery."

This is what is going to ruin notes. If anything does. It all feels like an Amway sales convention right now. Too many people hustling to make money rather than having a conversation.

Beautiful piece and that is my hope as well.

Expand full comment

I see it! It's amazing and I want to hang out in that gallery.

Also, I can't believe you found the most perfect image to go with this article. It brilliantly illustrates what you are saying and gives it a greater impact!

Expand full comment
author

I love the picture, too! I knew it was right the minute I found it.

Expand full comment

Hi Ramona,

I love the picture you chose to represent the Notes gallery. It's perfect. And I love your vision for Notes.

But it does bring up the following question. Should we be encouraging our readers to become users of Notes? Is there any downside to that? I haven't encouraged that yet.

Expand full comment
author

I neither encourage nor discourage my readers when it comes to Notes. Right now, in its infancy, it performs more as an in-house organ, more accessible to those of us who are building spaces here at Substack.

Our readers have access, of course, but most of them who aren't Substackers don't even know about it. And if they do, it's their choice whether or not they want to see what happens inside.

As a writer here, I tend to see Notes as our own community, though the doors are open to our audience if they choose to enter.

Expand full comment
deletedSep 26, 2023Liked by Ramona Grigg
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
author

That’s great. Welcome!

Expand full comment

That photo brought back memories of a rainy day in Antwerp and wonderful hours in the Rubenshuis where I chatted with a guard in Dutch.

Expand full comment
author

I can only imagine! From the time I was very young I took the bus (with my mom and later with friends) to the Detroit Institute of Arts, where I could wander those rooms and spend as much time as I liked examining and being awestruck by glorious works that often astounded me or moved me to tears.

I don't know how I'd react to those places in Europe that would surely overwhelm!

Expand full comment

That museum which was his home and study is mind-blowing. I only had day off from my research time in Ghent, will go back some day just for a week in Antwerp to see all the Rubens elsewhere in the city.

I grew up in a city stuffed with museums, New York, but Paris, London, Munich, Amsterdam put it in the shade.....

Expand full comment

DIA is one of the most welcoming, community-centered museums we have visited in years of art tourism. It’s never crowded and is full of treasures. What a gift to a child--or anyone within striking distance.

Expand full comment

Of course, certain works draw in clusters of appreciative followers, and there's the usual buzz running through the place: "Have you seen that one? Oh, you must! It's extraordinary!" But, with that many people moving about, and so many different offerings, it's impossible for a piece to go completely undiscovered. The artists must sense this, because no one seems inclined to amplify themselves using gimmicks or bribery (not to mention house rules that discourage that in the first place).

But, did you also notice how the floor of the gallery rotates every so often, to make sure the pieces front and center, the ones most visible when someone walks in the door, are perpetually shifting? Such a great touch. The designers really thought of everything! When I walked in a few weeks ago, I discovered a remarkable writer named Ramona Grigg who has several different styles from which to choose. The other day, Elizabeth Gilbert was up front, so I skirted around to the wings to find some other hidden treasures...

Expand full comment
author

Oh, exactly! I saw Elizabeth Beggins up front, too! Amazing how that works!

Expand full comment

Beautifully imagined ... and the 'no shouting' about anything feels like the First Rule of Notes Club. The more of us gathering around a quiet celebration of words, ideas, and anything that deserves 'quiet celebration', perhaps the more likely it is that this particular gallery will become just such a place. There's a wonderful Christina Figueres quote in the book she co-authored with Tom Rivett-Carnac 'The Future We Choose' ... "optimism is about being able to intentionally identify and prescribe the desired future so as to actively pull it closer".

Expand full comment
author

In a perfect world a celebration of our talents should be enough. The noise that goes along with it is here for better or worse, but if we're aware of it maybe we can force it to quiet down.

We should have that control.

I love the quote, by the way. I do tend to be optimistic to a fault--which means I'm often disappointed--to a fault.

Expand full comment

Turning the noise down without having to turn up the celebration, that's the thing. And optimism, yep, to a fault too! It's a good way to be wired.

Expand full comment
Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 25, 2023Liked by Ramona Grigg

-- Beautifully pictured, bountifully perceived. As I recently wrote, there’s persuasion in fighting, in planting, in transforming. Your writing has been doing just that -- brilliantly, Ramona. Xo.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you.

Expand full comment

Let's never forget the crazy dog people! You can certainly enter into this odd group any time, and we are NOT shy about sharing our furbaby pics.

Expand full comment
author

Well, of course! Who could forget the crazy dog people?

Is that people of the crazy dogs or literally--crazy dog people??

Expand full comment

Yes.

Expand full comment

Amazing that we humans refuse to simply exist. With each other. No expectations, demands, neediness.

Alas.

Expand full comment
author

Indeed.

Expand full comment

Wonderful afternoon here in Ramona’s Notes…so much to see… and great to share it with all of you who see it too.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you for being here, Bonnie. And for sharing!

Expand full comment

Love it, Ramona! Let’s be the notes we want to see in the stack gallery. Thank you for this vision.

Expand full comment
author

If only!

Expand full comment

Yes yes yes I can see it . You describe it so eloquently I felt I could paint 🎨 it .. I certainly painted it in my mind .. I’m not sure where my room is .. it’s with the creatives, the amateur writers and abstract painters, the manifesting generators (HD ) of the world. The empaths, the survivors of searing trauma, the ones who have a passion, a need to share the sh*t, to be vulnerable to save others who are drowning in shame and despair... the light bringers.. Are any of you my tribe ??

Expand full comment
author

In this gallery you could be with them all, any time you wanted. And you would be welcomed. ❤️

Expand full comment

I DO see it Ramona and thank you for providing us with such a splendid view of "what might be"! I have not personally undertaken to do much at/with Notes - in part because of a continuing sense of too much going on in my world right now. However, if and when the time is right I expect I may dive just a little deeper to see if I can gain new insights and understandings :-)

Expand full comment
Sep 26, 2023·edited Sep 26, 2023Liked by Ramona Grigg

Yes, yes, yes. I love this vision. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where real life artists and writers live and gather. I like your premise that Notes is this space in the virtual world.

I (as a mostly atheist) have a view of an afterlife that is much like this. I'll get to hang out with my friends, all my cats will be there. I will not have to clean the litter box and I will have a never ending supply of the meatloaf sandwiches from Fare Market in Freeland.

Expand full comment

I love this Ramona! I’m just been thinking about Notes, and how it fits with my other writing…I see my novels, Substack posts and Notes all as creative projects where I get to create and then share. With novels, the creating/sharing cycle is more protracted than my Substack posts, and with Notes, the creating/sharing can happen with even more immediacy and spontaneity. So your gallery analogy works beautifully!

Expand full comment

I can't come to terms with Notes at all, either as a reader or writer. It reminds me so much of the 'noise' that was an integral part of Twitter. Which is why I left the platform.

I don't use Notes and probably won't ever.

Expand full comment
author

It's a choice we all have to make. I suspect you're not alone.

Expand full comment