"restaurant critic"

I've just returned from visiting the Memorial Art Gallery's annual Clothesline Show. Now trimmed down to about 400 artists from across New York State, this show draws lots and lots of visitors, many of whom return each year to check out their favorite artists and to discover new ones.

I've been attending this show for so many years I can't count them. But since I've opened JOOLZ, I go to troll for new jewelry artists and usually just waltz on by the other booths - painting, ceramics, glass, photography, wearable art, etc.

Today I ran into Penelope, who owns F. Oliver's in Canandaigua. She and some friends were in a jewelry booth, checking out all the yummy designs. She proclaimed me to be like a restaurant critic: I go into the jewelry booths anonymously, check out the goods and then make an internal decision as to whether or not I will identify myself. Unlike a true restaurant/food critic, I don't get to eat the product I am reviewing (darn!) and my likes and dislikes are not printed in some publication for others to read.

Visting many of the jewelry artists today, I was happy to be incognito until I revealed my JOOLZ connection...or not. That got me thinking about the many celebrities in this world who can't go anywhere without 99.9% of the people around them knowing who they are. Certainly many of those by-standers feel as if they "know" the celebrity, having read all about them in magazines or on the internet. What a constraining, claustrophobic lifestyle that must be. Thanks very much, but I'm happy to be an anonymous "restaurant critic."