>From Robin:
>> BTW, I would urge you to contact him with your critique. He has an >> email address. I'd love to know what he might respond with. He once >> responded to one of my queries. > [snip] > Why not invite him to join vortex? I do not wish to overstay my "correspondence" with Miles. Truth of the matter is that in one of my exchanges with Mr. Mathis I fear he may have become annoyed with the content of the "answer" I supplied him with. Therefore, I don't wish to aggravate the situation any further. Let me clarify. He actually asked for my advice on a particular matter. Unfortunately, he may not have liked the "answer" I supplied him with, even though I do not regret the content of my "suggestions". I did tell him up front that he was free to discard my suggestions. Part of our conversation revolved around the fact that Mr. Mathis actually asked me for tips on selling art. He is, BTW, a superb artist. He noticed that my own web site (just like his) contains a lot of personal art work. Miles told me that for years he had been able to support his ascetic life-style AND fund his mathematical research by selling his art through various outlets. You can see links to some of the gallery outlets he sells through at his website. Let me repeat this: To my utter astonishment Miles has been able to support what he has told me is an ascetic standard of living through sales of his art. On top of that, and to my total amazement, he uses the income generated from the sales of his art to support his mathematical research. IOW, Mr. Mathis is using his artistic talent to help support what I suspect is the REAL muse in his life: the pursuit of MATHEMATICS. What an incredibly unique twist on human nature!!!! This is an incredible accomplishment and I commend his efforts. I am in absolute awe, particularly since I was never able to make a go of being an "artist" myself. I discovered that being a computer programmer turned out to be a lot less work for me! In turn, I was then left with sufficient free-time to pursue my personal art as I saw fit. However, in Miles' situation, the economy has now soured to such an extent that even his superb artistic talent is not enough to continue the funding his mathematical research. I suggested to Miles that he might want to consider looking into temporary work in various fields, temp work that would not tax his creative abilities. (That's what I ended up doing. It worked for me.) He is obviously multi-talented and could probably pick and choose through a number of technically proficient fields. Perhaps he could even be a temp teacher. I suggested that as the economy starts to improve again he could then hopefully return once again supporting his mathematical research through his artist endeavors. Miles never replied. I have no way of knowing if Mr. Mathis is simply too busy, which could indeed be the case. Or...he may have decided that I'm an opinionated blowhard who might be unconsciously jealous of his talent. Perhaps he perceives me as someone who plotted to pull him down a peg or two with my "get real, and go get a real job" advise. I have no way of knowing in a vacuum of no responses. I simply have the feeling that Miles prefers no further communication with me -insofar as soliciting any further "advice" from me. All I can say is that he DID ask for my advice, so I don't regret offering up insights into what worked for me. Under the circumstances I would prefer someone ELSE from the Vort Collective "advise" Miles on the premise that he might enjoy joining this eclectic group. He needs his research read so that he can get adequate feedback. I gather he is getting some feedback. I just don't know how much and of what quality. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
