Getting Started

I was finally moved to start a blog (after thinking about it for a while without ever getting around to it) by a recent phone conversation with a friend, in which the morass in Iraq came up. As such conversations do, this one then veered off in several related directions at once, all revolving around a core of our mutual distaste for George Bush. After a few minutes, my friend sighed and said there was no point getting all worked up about it.

"Yes, there is," I replied. "The truth is, my hope is nearly gone. My anger is the only thing that keeps me going."

So now I have an outlet to express that anger, to discuss what I'm angry about, why I'm angry, and, in my calmer moments, to try to rediscover that hope and offer a different vision of what we as a people, a nation, a culture, might do, might be, might become. (And, of course, I also need to wonder if this will become just navel-gazing, an exercise that makes me feel better without actually accomplishing anything. I suppose that having started this, I now also have to try to make sure at least some people see it. Bummer.)

I've been kicking around the online world for a while now (I remember when 1200 baud was what you upgraded to) but I make no claim to expertise in coding, so don't expect anything fancier than links. I also make no promises of contributions on any particular schedule. (I also know that you probably don't care, but it's my blog so if I want to imagine you'd be disappointed if I don't post three times a day, I will.) I do promise to try to make this worth reading and to be coherent even if inconsistent at times. (Was it Shaw who said "I'll only be consistent when I'm dead?")

Thanks for reading.