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July 15, 2005

CHEESEY INTERLUDE I

From Chipp Kidd's The Cheese Monkeys

Morning. Today we are going to talk about Left to Right. If I thought tht I could say, "Things go from left to right," and you all would grasp the weight of the situation then I would just say it and that would be that and we could just go home for today because, really, that's enough.

No, too much for one day, actually. The best way would be to say, "Things go from left" on Tuesday, let it sink in, and then say "to right" on Thursday. And you know how you'd picture it? You'd picture Tuesday on the left and Thursday on the right, and we'd be all set. In fact, why the hell didn't I do that? Damn. Too late. Anyway, that would assume this circumstance doesn't require some explanation, and as i survey this room, it's clear to me it does.

Look. Suppose you were a general in battle someplace and you got wind the enemy was plottting to invade your territory. If you knew exactly ahead of time where the sonsabitches were going to land and strike, you'd have the advantage, right? Well, that's it. You, you all have the advantage. The page, the poster, the surface you are working on - THAT'S your territory, and they are going to invade. Fine, let them. That's what you want anyway. But be ready. They are coming in from the left. Always, always, always, always!! This, as you would imagine, can be extremely useful to know. For example, if the director of a play wants to give more importance to one character than others, where do you think he's going to place him on the stage? See? You invisibly assign a hierarchy of importance and meaning to the elements you work with by deciding where they go on the page.

We are in the Western world. We read, see, think. Left. To. Right. You have few givens in this life, in this class. That is one of them. Use it.

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