Monetizing

The International Monetary Fund (Washington, DC)

For lawyers and psychiatrists, time is money. You pay both by the hour. But just about everything can be monetized. People record conversations and turn them into podcasts. Prostitutes charge for love, but how many novels have been the result of love gone awry or love interrupted by illness a la Love Story. If someone is funny, their friends immediately encourage them to practice standup. There are many hobbyists, but what happens when your avocation turns into a vocation. Bridge and backgammon players enter tournaments for which there are prizes and chess is an industry, some of which is now automated a la Deep Blue. The line between amateur and professional sports is becoming increasingly thin particularly as it pertains to intercollegiate athletics. In some cases, this leads to increasing the amount of danger involved. For instance, there are climbers and then free soloists who defy gravity by ascending walls of stone with no ropes or carabiners. Daredevils, like the Wallendas, are a lucrative business. Gourmets populate cooking shows, but what about gourmands who go for quantity over quality? Every year there is a hot dog eating contest with a prize. In Nathans 2021 annual hotdog contest Joey Chestnut ate 78 hotdogs with buns and won the famous bejeweled yellow colored belt. Philately, numismatics and lepidoptery all provide financial rewards for those who wish to pursue them. Can you make money from licking envelopes closed, opening up jars or cleaning the water out of your soap tray? Does it profit to cross 42^nd Street or put something back where it belongs?Who will compensate you for the effort? A thoughtful person can be said to be blessed but will she be remunerated for her pondering? 

read "The Chapbook Lady" by Francis Levy, Vol.1 Brooklyn

and listen to "Poetry in Motion" by Johnny Tillotson