I am very pleased that my first volley at putting down a Pasconian Manifesto generated a lot of emails and conversations. Specifically the first and last bullet points, to which many people responded.

A member of my fictional Iraqi cabinet had this to say about the last point ("The things that you make are never as important as the process of making them."):

"Engineers typically take the opposing view -- the final product is worth the trials of its production (a take I agree with in the context of engineering). Of course, as a musician I agree with the journey take -- the whole point of jazz, in my view, is the journey. Jazz is intensely personal, and the pleasure of the listener is not the goal of it. It's the process of its construction that matters."

Certainly writing, art, music, and engineering are crafts. Many of these acts create an end product that is more satisfying than the things that went into making the end product. But this is an "audience-centric" point of view. As a user -- or an audience -- of a bridge, I only care about the final product ... and that it works!

But for the craftsman -- or if you will, the artist -- of the bridge there is no button that you can push labeled "MAKE BRIDGE." Building bridges requires experience, support, and vast collaboration. It's the process that makes all of that possible.

I know people who want to be writers who don't write; people who want to be artists who don't draw. What I'm saying is simple: If you want to make art, do it. (Emphasis on "do," not on "it.")

And now to take the discussion in a new direction, another aphorism:

• Making inferior art is more important that thinking about making great art.