A starting point

There's an idea that's been bothering me for a while, the way ideas bother you when they want to be fleshed out more. It can't be new, and probably isn't even unique, but it also seems to me like it should be EVERYWHERE, and it isn't, so I want to be part of working it through. And blogging is a good way to work through an idea.

Here is the idea: Being an art critic (a music critic, a movie critic, etc.) is something we all do at least a little bit. You can be a good critic even if you have never and would never get paid to do it, just like being a good cook. And as with making food, getting better at it can make your life and the lives of your friends and family a little better.

(I'm positive about those things. But what does 'better' look like? That's a hard I think I have some ideas, from a little bit of professional experience and decades of 'home critique'. Not nearly enough ideas, though. I'm blogging to explore, not to reveal some body of knowledge I confidently already have.)