February 27, 2004
Andrew Sullivan and the Marriage Amendment
Andrew Sullivan has a great array of emailers' reactions on the Marriage Amendment issue.
A few points.
One: I have linked to Andrew's latest weekly archive above; read through all of the emails. If you think that all conservatives (or even just grudging Bush respecters) are bigots, or racists, or white, or homophobes, these emails paint a wonderfully different picture.
Two: To those who are aching to codify what marriage is as an amendment of the US Constitution, then let's ask Americans to vote on a definition of marriage, not for an up-or-down vote on whether marriage is strictly heterosexual. I see three choices: leave the Constitution alone, define marriage as any union of two consenting adults, define marriage as any union of a consenting man and woman. OK, vote!
John Kerry on John Kerry
Thank you for your telling animated cartoon on John Kerry.
Once again, as was proved in the Toys for Iraq campaign, the blogosphere will show its distributed decentralized muscles and expose Kerry for who he really is. I don't see that happening in Big Media.
February 23, 2004
Write On Time
Writing has a time component. For those who don't write, or are learning to write (me), write when the idea or emotion is first present. Why? Because writing is not solely an iterative process.
What does that mean? When I have an idea or a brainstorm or an emotional recollection, the common notion is that writing the thought down is iterative. You take the thing from your brain and put it on paper. A one-off iteration. True perhaps. Writing however is so much more. It just happened to me now: an instance of the generative nature of writing.
What does that mean? It means that when you are iterating the thoughts and notions that first inspired you to write (ie, taking the thing from your brain and putting it on paper), new thoughts and notions are generated. What was my generative event? That iterating from a mental image or emotion to a crafted sentence is clearly and necessarily a never-perfect recordation of the original. Why? We think in pictures, we are moved by emotions; these are not natively textual events, simply to be recorded. They must be interpreted by our "semantics machine" before some semblance of the event can be captured in words. It is in this "semantics machine" that new thoughts are generated.
In addition to the iterative and generative components to writing, there is a third which is perhaps more time-sensitive than the other two: the cathartic nature of writing. I don't believe I have read a "success" author that did not include writing things down (goals, self-perceptions, mission statements, etc.). What happens when you write down a goal? You cease being the goal. What happens when you write an "anger letter"? You cease being the anger. If all of your goals, prejudices, ideas, are swirling around in your brain, where does your "self" end and those "things" begin? It is hard to find the boundary. Place those "things" outside of your "self" and you can begin to see what you are not, and who you are.
So why "write on time"? When you find yourself in that "inspired" moment to capture an idea in words, you are also primed to have unique generative and cathartic writing events. As you depart from the "inspired" moment without writing, the generative and cathartic gems depart with it. Here's the kicker: you can (and quite frankly should) go back and attempt to recreate the "inspired" moment, but you will never, ever know what you truly lost.
February 13, 2004
An Unqualified Good Idea
Power Line: Soldiers Respond to St. Cloud Girls
I have read several of the "identity politics" crowd's reactions on how this calendar is sexist, homophobic (ie, caters to hetero tendencies), etc.
Cripes.
It's a great idea, and simply a great gift to the troops. Having gone to Carleton College in the early 80's, I have very fond mammaries, er, memories of the beautiful women of Minnesota. I'd live there now if it weren't for the annual cryogenic experiments.
February 10, 2004
February 08, 2004
February 02, 2004
Dangerous bloggers
The Politburo Diktat: DemCom Deck of Cards for Operation Bloggi Freedom