A Bit of the Drama

I have been stewing and brewing about what I wanted to say here for several days. There were several things about this Round that made me seriously wonder whether I wanted to continue participating. By this point, it was becoming clear that, not only were we expected to work in isolation, with only Ted for interaction, but that even after the Round was judged we weren't going to be given any real insight in to how we performed. From all the emails that flew back and forth, and from Ted's posts on Chat, I think he really believes that no one really desires or benefits from the critique. I can see where he is coming from, in one regard, but it is a stance I personally do not embrace...of course, being younger sister to a powerfully driven 18 months older sister, I grew up in a personal atmosphere of striving toe to toe to be on top. She did Speech and Debate, so did I, etc.

If you are interested in the discussion from chat, the beginning can be found here: "Just Curious" You will have to skim a few messages on a different topic, but I think you can get the flavor of the discussion.

Perhaps I was a bit too provocative when I suggested that Ted was being a bit disingenuous, suggesting that all was sunshine and roses at this or any time during the competition. It was a high stress situation and there were often moments of fury and frustration: Ted with me, and me with Ted. I can't speak for the other designers, but in addition to a lot of frantic design work there was also a LOT of soul searching. I was a little relieved when Leigh and Debbie, and later Brenda shared their feelings because that meant it wasn't just me...and that is really how it felt during the process of the competition: that it was just me.

I wonder whose design has too many feathers on it......