Henry Darger: If only he had a laptop

     I don't know about you all, but I had never heard of Henry Darger until I stumbled upon him during a foray into artists on Wikipedia. This is to be expected, as he was a hermit his whole life, who could count his friends on one hand. However, after his death a series of fifteen full-length novels and hundreds of paintings were found inside his house. Today, his work has received praise from various  institutions, mostly for his artwork rather than writing. Unfortunately he never heard a word of it. While there are countless artists that go without fame during their lifetime, Henry is an extreme case where very few, if anybody, even knew he existed (he stayed home when not working as a custodian).
     I find it interesting that the class I am in now as a college student, has the ability to publish our thoughts and comments to the world, and even publish a book online with little or no effort, and certainly no requirement of skill or talent. Thanks technology, anyone can become an internet star (whether they want to or not), and be seen and heard by thousands, if not millions around the globe. How many Henry Dargers are out there, with talents and ideas unpublished simply because they had no outlet? I personally see the internet as an great tool for allowing people to share and specialize in their interests - you really like socks? There's a whole community out there for you. On the internet, being a niche artist is more than possible (like this cheese artist, for example). So, go out there and post, folks! Take whatever your passionate about, throw it out there, and you'll be the better off for it- there's an audience for everything now - even for Nicholas Cage freaks. And who knows? Maybe you'll even live long enough to see your work become famous. More than we can say for ol' Henry.