"A-ha" moment: The difference between CS and CM

Thank you so much for responding. I appreciate the time it must have taken to create such a delightful post. I like the way you just let your mind wonder and pour out ideas. As you say, fascinating dinner conversation.

I didn’t realize there was so much diversity in what Joseph wrote. I will have to look at all his work. He struck me as pragmatic to the core.
"Many artists have themselves as their first audience".  - I like that. It’s like saying we make art for us, not others. That’s how it should be (unless it’s ‘commercial art) if it’s a true reflection of our souls.
”Charles Dickens was a content strategist. So was Shakespeare” - I like that, it’s a new angle on this debate and I thinks hits on what might be confusing many, i.e. the use of the word “strategy”. Most people equate this with a type of high-level “plan” and not as “crafting” a message, as it seems to apply in this course. Certainly I agree that part of Dickens’ purpose for writing was to create awareness for the plight of the working classes in Victorian Britain - that would be CS. Shakespeare is an interesting one. I am no Shakespeare expert, but certainly he was an artist, and surely had to consider his audience carefully (CS), plus pander somewhat to those who funded his pastime - ref your comment ”Artists have always had patrons to whom they are beholden”.
[As an aside, I’m no Dickens expert either, but one of my all time favorite books is Tale of Two Cities. The character Sydney Carton produces his most brilliant work when he’s had a bottle or two of red. Makes me wonder if Dickens himself had a drinking problem…but the water was not as we know it today. Interesting reading here. And for that matter, makes one ponder how many great works of art were helped along with the odd glass of vino? Certainly worked for Kerouac, Hemingway, and ilk. Interesting reading here.]