Welcome to my blog! Here you will find all those random epiphanies that occur to me in the shower or on the way to picking my son up from school. All those philosophical meditations that my mind drifts to when I probably should be doggedly plowing my way through my to do list. All those op-eds that the Oregonian doesn’t see fit to print.
Why am I blogging? Well, I have a lot to say. I am a freelance writer, so my word gets out a bit, but not as much as I would like it do I live here in this beautiful rainy corner of the Northwest, and have four children ranging in age from 25 to 5.. I feel like lots is at stake these days. On a macro societal level the world is going to hell in a handbasket. But on the micro grass roots level incredible, creative, life-affirming things are happening. I want to add my own small voice in a positive direction and not be a passive observer, as “democracy dies to thunderous applause” (as George Lucas put it so aptly in the surprisingly good Revenge of the Sith).
If this sounds overly earnest, it is. I’m so sick of people using layers of irony to emotionally distance themselves from the world. I’m tired of how truth and fiction, news and parody, have become so inextricably intertwined that few people can tell the difference, or even care whether they do or not. If you want jokes, watch the Daily Show. I know laughter is healthy and all, but some things just aren’t funny.
I’m tired of how mainstream media claps onto buzzwords and doesn’t let them go. I’m tired of how they restrict debate by creating false dichotomies like the economy or the environment, or civil liberties vs security, or latte drinking liberals vs salt of the earth mainstream Americans. I am so tired of the Bush Administration’s ignorance. I am so tired of how our president speaks in sentences at the level of a first grade reader….and gets away with it.
I could rant on forever, but I’ll break it up into edible daily chunks. Not just politics either. Expect comments on social trends, parenting, food , travel, literature, movies—remember this is my opinion on almost everything!
I hope to inspire intelligent debate, so comments are welcome.
