United we are not.

[Megan Sandover-Sly (triscuitbox)]

Far too many people on here have a hostile attitude that they seem to be ashamed of and keep wrapped in falseness.
I am considering deleting myself off the site to avoid everyone else's drama.

Hating pretentious artists with all my heart!
-Megan



I guess my point is be real and be open to the world's possibilities
Exactly <3 that. As cheese and over said that is.

[yves maraux]

United we are not.!
what the matter ?
but i invit you to go and see what was happening to me on Ambassade francophone ! you will like it !

[Megan Sandover-Sly (triscuitbox)]

that is pretentious in a way.
your reasoning to missing something is being that you are busy...
busier then us? like i don't spend hours making art and with school work and films and mail art. right. haha
i am just teasing btw. but this is the thing i am talking about. lol

[Jennifer Kosharek]

Unions? "boring people," unity problems... connive? Where have I been... obviously missing out on the good gossip. I guess I've been too busy doing art and mail art to fully understand what happened on the old IUOMAning... I'm laughing out loud. Seriously art is my therapy... how bout you?

[Carla Cryptic]

One thing I have gained from participating in mail art all of these years is that negativity, being part of life, is just as valid as positivity and, again, as indifference. People come from so many different points of view as individuals as well as groups. The thing I've been trying to do since I was a child is learn how to survive the times when people's actions have impacted negatively on my body and mind. It's sort of a two steps forward, one step back proposition but it's worth it nonetheless. I refuse to be ground into the ground by other people's actions so I have to just pick myself up and keep moving. That is what I see as being alive. When I can also enjoy it, I am thriving. It's a painful process, like a baby being born or losing a good friend to suicide or being attacked by a wild animal. In each case, there is little to be done to stop or change the outcome but there is always a way, if you survive physically, to learn something from it. So, please don't leave and never come back. I have done that in the past and regretted it. Though, at the time, it was the only tenable option so I had to grow into this position I'm taking now. Conflict is rarely pleasant but in a forum like this, where we are just typing words or posting pictures, it is one of the safer places to experience it and learn how to deal with it. There are as many solutions as problems and as long as we live, we are constantly in a position to learn more.

One thing that I really love about this site is that, like mail art itself, there are so many different things going on at any given time. If one area is boring or painful, another will be interesting and pleasurable. It is up to us as individuals to choose the thing we are ready for and/or willing to experience.

One thing I am happy about right now in myself is that I don't feel out of sync with the place and the majority of people in it even when I don't feel in sync with some of the people in it. In the past, probably due to the way I was bullied and beat up a lot in school, I would lose my ability to enjoy the people who weren't beating me up or the place where it was happening. Now, I am finally past that, it seems. Very cool to experience that. Maybe that's something a lot of us need. Maybe not... could just be me. :)

I would hate it if you left Wilma, just so you know. I think you're a great addition to the mix that is IUOMA at Ning network. After all, this is just one incarnation of IUOMA. :)

I am still just scratching the surface of the place. I want to eventually visit every single person's page and see what they are saying and the pictures they are posting. It's like a treasure trove, this site. Thanks, again, Ruud, for getting it going and keeping it running. :)

[Ruud Janssen]

We only need a positive attitude and go from that. I know that sometimes a negative attitude comes across. That happens everywhere. Turning your back on that and go away is the easiest thing to do. Turning the negative aspect into a positive one is what needed though. Everytime you succeed in that you have done good work. Turn others into a positive attitude and they will build up instead of destroy. We are building this world together. This simple and unimportant IUOMA is just a fragment of that.

[Talking Bird]

It was clear from context. A shame these Ning sites don't allow editing comments after posting them, except for the first 15 minutes in some cases.

[Megan Sandover-Sly (triscuitbox)]

i really regret my spelling error of "word"
but i welcome this forum hehe :)

[Talking Bird]

Labor unions are another example of organizations with a unity problem. They really need unity to do what they're set up to do, but they tend to be scenes of torrid and sometimes violent disagreement. Unions succeed when the union members overcome their differences by being tolerant of opposing views.

[Megan Sandover-Sly (triscuitbox)]

the very work union denoted a coming together.

looking at the world from different perspectives is always a good thing.
having friends from all sorts of walks and communities and religions and colours and creeds.
we do have to at least band together in the sense that we are all physical near eachother (be it in miles or minutes) even if our minds don't always meet.

thinking "i have so much to share"
but really just taking is another issue i am having with this issue.

[Talking Bird]

"United we are not" is an apt description of modern society in general -- not only of a web site for a particular school of mail-art. There are seemingly infinite varieties of cultural experience today. It's difficult to find someone interested in the same specialized area of the same field, and nearly impossible to find someone who fits that description and also agrees with you about your area of common interest.

The usual way to find unity is to select a football team to root for. Then you're unified with millions of other non-thinking people. Those of us for whom that solution doesn't work have to be tolerant of differing views and personalities.

And, as it turns out, that tolerance can be very rewarding. It's fun to look at the world from a different perspective once in a while.