Pan's Philosphy

Robert Boyd



I'm reading The Essential New Art Examiner, an anthology of writing from the great Chicago-based art magazine, and a passage by Derek Guthrie, one of the co-founders with Jane Allen, resonated for me. Allen and Guthrie had been critics at the Chicago Tribune when they were suddenly fired, apparently for writing an article about the Illinois Arts Council that made the wrong people mad. He blamed the Chicago "collector/dealer/trustee" cabal. He writes:

This was a disaster for us and made clear that we had no professional future in Chicago. Jane was not prepared to be shut out of her home town and said in simple, practical terms, "If we want to be art writers we are going to have to be oir own publisher." A fearsome prospect. But Jane drew strength from the fighting spirit and wisdom of her great aunt, Jane Addams of Hull House, who said, "There is no point in going elsewhere to find greeener pastures; what you have to do is look after your own backyard, and if you do it well, eventually others will notice." (Emphasis added.)

A good philosophy for a regional blog like The Great God Pan Is Dead, no?