{"id":1586,"date":"2007-03-15T09:02:01","date_gmt":"2007-03-15T09:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2020-09-25T08:39:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T07:39:46","slug":"not-as-dumb-as-i-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/not-as-dumb-as-i-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Not As Dumb As I Look"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or The Dangers of Talking Too Much<\/h4>\n

A few months ago, a friend asked if he could come by with a friend of his whose son needed a little advice about his art education.<\/p>\n

Normally, I don\u2019t accept visits and meetings of any kind, but of course make exceptions for friends of friends of friends of\u2026<\/p>\n

So, they came by, and I thoughtfully gave my thoughts, at some length, about what I thought I thought.<\/p>\n

Naturally, none of this is deontological, nor am I particularly qualified to talk about career planning and education. I detest gurus and smooth talkers of any kind (salespeople and proselytizers do not ring our doorbell a second time). It\u2019s nothing but common sense and pencils talking.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also wary when there is an urgent need for simple advice. Sometimes you meet individuals who are so badly in need it\u2019s like standing on the edge of a cliff. It\u2019s far too easy to get caught up in the sound of one\u2019s own voice, in the glib thoughts that spill off one\u2019s tongue.<\/p>\n

(I also cordially loathe all those Put-Artist\u2019s-Name-Here \u00ae Painting Techniques\u2122, but that is another subject entirely.)<\/p>\n

At any rate, I met a pleasant young man who was having a difficult year in school and simply needed to weigh a few advantages and disadvantages. There was a fair bit of thoughtful slow nodding of heads and I did do my best to convey a few ideas about which I feel strongly.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, our friend said to my wife \u201cYou know, John\u2019s a lot more intelligent than I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now you see why I don\u2019t accept visitors. Wouldn\u2019t want that<\/em> kind of news to get around\u2026
\nSAISONS D\u2019ALSACE<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those of you who read French, here is the (lengthy) article from the winter 2006\/2007 issue of Saisons d\u2019Alsace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \"\"<\/a>
\n[PDF, 2 mo]<\/a><\/center>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This is the last week it can be found in the newsstands, but it can be obtained by contacting:
\nLes Saisons d\u2019Alsace,
\n3 rue Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune,
\n67000 Strasbourg,
\nFrance
\nsaisons@dna.fr<\/a>
\nTel :00 33 3 88 15 77 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or The Dangers of Talking Too Much A few months ago, a friend asked if he could come by with a friend of his whose son needed a little advice about his art education. Normally, I don\u2019t accept visits and meetings of any kind, but of course make exceptions for friends of friends of friends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[434],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","tag-saisons-dalsace"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1PY8Y-pA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}