from "Everything in It's Own Time"

"We are nothing,
nothing is ours.
Not even love so sweet
it burns like baby stars.
But this poverty
is our greatest gift,
the weightlessness of us
as things around begin to shift."

from "Everything in it's Own Time"
by Emily Saliers - The Indigo Girls

Why I love Twitter

I have to begin by saying that at first glance the whole idea of Twitter seemed to me like just one of those vacant ideas that today's flaky college students came up with to irritate their elders. But now I have a job that, in part, asks that I find unique ways of promoting Inkwell. And it just so happens the hottest marketing tool these days is Twitter. So a few weeks ago I decided to stick my toe in the water and...suddenly I'm Tweeting. To nobody in particular, granted, but then this blog is about as focused as that, so between the two of them I get to spew publicly and I think, after all, that's the whole point of this stuff. Oh yeah, some people comment on news or sell products but let's face it, it's all just spewing. The thing about Twitter is that, unlike a blog, it requires no small amount of discipline to express a concise thought in a specific number of characters. I think it's this discipline that gets me; a little like writing an haiku. Hey, that's a thought. I'll post a haiku.

Why I Hate Politics

I promise I will avoid discussing politics whenever possible, but the recent comments by Republican spokesmen have managed to raise my blood pressure to a point where I have to blow off steam, so here goes.

Ever since President Obama took office, the Republican Party appears to have suffered a mass case of amnesia. Apparently they have totally forgotten the unprecedented economic quicksand in which Americans are now mired is the direct result of the economic policies of the Bush administration. While they were all being good little cheerleaders, their numb-nuts leaders were: a) destroying the sound fiscal policies and squandering the budget surplus that was the legacy of the Clinton administration, and b) throwing good money after bad, not to mention the lives of countless American servicemen and women in pursuit of an ego-driven, inherently evil foreign policy. By the time the stock market began tipping south the damage had already been done. America was already billions of dollars in debt. The housing crisis begat the credit crisis that eventually infected the entire world economy. It was just the icing on the cake. Had our economic policies been sound America might have weathered the crisis, even prevented it by stopping the crisis before it got out of control.

And now the Republicans, what few of them managed to survive the '08 election, have the unmitigated gall to complain that the $787 billion stimulus program (which, by the way, was fine when it was proposed by Republican-appointed Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson) isn't creating jobs fast enough for them and must therefore be scuttled. For what? Tax cuts for the rich?

Back in January the Republicans proposed their own $478 stimulus package. What would that have produced? The Obama plan has already helped some companies avoid layoffs and helped some states avoid laying off municipal employees, including teachers, and it's only been in effect for six months.

Yes, Congressman Cantor, it is Obama's economy now. So what are you doing to help? Its high time someone in the Republican party realized that we're not kidding when we say this is the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression and it's not over yet! If our ship of state sinks, we're all going down with it. Politics-as-usual has no place in a national - nay, a global emergency and these policitians will serve their constituents best by chipping in and making sure the stimulus package works.

Another Step

The era of social networking moves on, dragging me along with it. I now can also be found on Facebook and LinkedIn. Just updated my profiles today. Jeez, this is a lot of work. Oh yeah, one more. For those of us with an artistic bent, check out "quarterlife." quarterlife is a website based on the internet series of the same name created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creative team that brought us tv shows like "thirtysomething" and movies like "Legends of the Fall" and "Blood Diamond." The site seems to attract a broad range of excellent talent. There's just so much talent out there and so little of it gets the kind of public attention it deserves. What does that say for our society? I think we all know the answer to that.

Which brings me to a subject very close to my heart these days - Inkwell, the literary magazine. We're looking for original, unpublished poetry, stories, essays and artwork. If you're interested, go to our website www.inkwelljournal.org and read the submissions guidelines CAREFULLY!!!. Submissions must be postmarked between Aug. 1st and Nov. 15th, 2009. Got that? Ok, thanks for submitting the best work you've got and good luck to you.

Another nod to the new world

I just joined Twitter today at the behest of Barbara (my ex) whose Twitter-handle (is that the right term?) I can't find. I'll have to email her later and tell her I can't find her on Twitter. So far I have three people following me, at least one of which has tried to induce me to look at her (his?) sexy pictures on her/his website. I must be desperate for friends.

The End of an Era

I am of a certain era and I love music. But when Michael Jackson died last week, I was amazed at how many people were moved. Granted, I'm a 60ish white male and my taste in music has always reflected my social status. I loved rock&roll from the day I heard "Rock Around the Clock" on the juke box in the Candy Kitchen in Plymouth, Indiana. I used to play air guitar to Elvis Presley before the sobriquet air guitar even existed. And at the tender age of 15, I ran away from home to be on American Bandstand even if for just a week.

I was the first kid in town (I believe) to buy Dylan's first album and the music of the ever evolving Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Grateful Dead and the rest, albeit mostly white males like myself, was the music that carried me through into adulthood.

Anyway, back to MJ. There was a period just after graduating from college when I couldn't seem to find the kind of "white" music on the radio that I liked. It was the late 70's. The world was moving on, leaving behind the Age of Aquarius and moving toward the cocaine-fueled days of Studio 54 and disco. As a result I found myself listening to a lot of R&B; Lionel Ritchie, Teddy Pendergrass, Earth Wind and Fire and the great Barry White to name a few. But one album got to me and I played it over and over while I was living in a small basement apartment on a narrow little street in Greenwich Village. That album was Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall." Smooth, jazzy and poetical all at the same time. Man in the Mirror was speaking to me. What more can anyone ask from an album.

Then came "Thriller" which ushered in the MTV generation and the world of music left me in the dust.

I still wonder why "Off The Wall" doesn't get the critical recognition I think it deserves. It was in a very real sense a breakout album for Jackson. It sold well across many music markets and I think it must have made "Thriller" possible. But "Thriller" spoke eloquently to a younger generation, especially young black kids who desperately needed an idol of their own. Overnight Jackson became their hero, their savior, and his fans stuck with him through all the insanity that followed.

So the era of Michael Jackson is over now. As Lennon said, "Strange days indeed, mama. Strange days indeed."

Update on changing the world

It has been almost two years since my last post. At that point I was about to set forth to change the world. However, before one changes the world, one must prepare. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it hasn't been destroyed for centuries either - so there, whatever that means.

My ex used to call my writing "mental masturbation." So I guess this would be public mental masturbation. And what is it that I will masturbate about? Well, I'm not a pundit. I'm truly not that clever and I tend to be way to sarcastic. However, since my last posting, I've decided to return to school to get a masters degree - in creative writing. I've also been appointed the editor-in-chief of a respected literary magazine. The two are related in that the school, and more importantly the writing program, are the publishers.

So I guess I'll use this forum to talk about writing. I've just come back from a week-long writer's workshop and for the first time in my life I'm starting to take myself seriously as a writer. I've always been a journalist - a craftsman using words to describe events and facts. But a writer creates new worlds, defines what it is to be human by his/her art and craft. These new worlds offer the reader a chance to escape the real world and hopefully, if the writer has done his/her job properly, learn something about the nature of the human animal.

Like Dennis Miller always says, that's just my opinion -- I could be wrong.

As for the world, well we've elected a black president, we've fallen into the biggest economic hole since the Great Depression, and Farrah and Michael are dead. God help us!