April 23rd, 2009 by lindsay
Underground goes deep. Regularly.
As much as friend, writer and editor of the online literary magazine the Rumpus, Stephen Elliott potentially bugs with his daily after daily after daily announcement regarding new content to be found in the Rumpus – an interview here, a cartoon there, a first-person account of George Plimpton’s oral biography by his son - i must say, i love it. every morning in my email i receive a fresh cup of verbal caffeine, hand delivered with a wink and smile (literally – his daily news article is called Morning Coffee.) i have come to expect it. like hitting the snooze button or wiping the drool off the pillow, checking for the rumpus email has become an AM habit. and i look for it every day. if he were to disappear for a few days, i might not look for it on the fourth. on the fifth i might miss it again. on the sixth, again, miss it. but on the seventh, sigh, i will have forgotten the Rumpus, and Stephen, all together.
Which goes to show: there is something to be said for consistency. as long as it changes constantly.
That’s the thing about the communication profession these days. Where as we used to be able to put up a “new” take on a well-worn campaign with slight tweaks to jokes or new kids and puppies about once a year and that would keep people alert, alive, and addicted, that time is no more.
With the fragmentation of the human attention span, the compounding of available information, and the paper thin depth of people’s dive into What’s New, it is the constant and committed, those who are in it for the long haul day after day after day that hold our attention and even make us come back for more.
