Criticisms can be mean or petty, and they can even be wrong.
But I don't need to pretend not to be myself to deal with it.
Why did he? Why does he need people to think so well of his work? He can not follow instruction without violating boundaries. He can not be told "I did not like this" without complete shutdown.
But he gave me advice I did not ask for, and did not suit me.. because it was displacement or projection or something.
It was not for or about me, it was an admission of weakness.
I love being "educated" about criticism by people who have never in their lives been to an academic creative critique.
People who position themselves as more educated AND superior to me creatively love dancing a fandango right into a beartrap.
A trained visual artist from youth, I have been critiqued so very many times, by people who hated me, people who wanted to crush me, who were vastly intellectually and creatively accomplished, and so many more scary types.
I can take it better than you.
