In the Bay Area, there’s a particular way of “giving feedback.” It’s very detailed, complex, and thoughtful, and the listener is supposed to receive it in a kind of quiet, receptive way. It’s a kind of social code or community behavior. We don’t have this in NY, at least not in any kind of codified way.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Otohime 
yes! and also how when you are invited to read on the west coast, they ask you to go for 45 minutes (vs. the standard 15-20 around here).i find it intense out there, but the people are generally sweet & fun. your pics are great.
Hi Nada,This is an interesting observation–I hadn’t thought of it as a “community behavior” until now.How is feedback given in New York? In my (admittedly limited) experience, the social code there dictates a kind of studied silence. It makes it hard to tell if you’ve bombed, or if you’re so “in” that there’s no need to tell you how you did. (Or is it that the real feedback happens backstairs, once you’re gone, like pretty much everywhere else?) Are there signals I’m not picking up?
A kind of studied silence, yes. Because if you rocked, you are competition, and if you’ve bombed, silence is diplomatic.No, really, I think what I’ve just said is a little cynical. More often feedback is limited to a line: “That was amazing,” or “I was very disturbed by that,” without the sort of processed mirroring that one finds in SF. I almost think New Yorkers just don’t have time and energy to do the SF thing, and besides, it’s just not the custom.I also wonder whether NYers think of themselves as a community in the same way that Bay Areaans do. It is so awfully Balkanized here.