I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

August 30, 2013 - 1:29 p.m.

Changing the World One Gentle Reader at a Time

I'm getting a late start once again and I'm still not sure what I'm going to write. Did anyone pick up that I was on Facebook pretty much all day yesterday and figure out what that meant? Yes I was sick with a Crohn's attack. I might have to go back on prednisone. I took my 20 mg dose and it helped but I'm still not right. I wasn't able to eat my first meal till dinner time. I still ate breakfast, bacon and eggs. My tummy is not right this morning. I can eat and it doesn't hurt but I feel my intestines. You aren't supposed to.

One good thing. I actually made it out of the house a little before 10 PM and went to the local supermarket. Even though things are more expensive there I bought seltzer. I paid 99� for a quart. I can always get it for 79� at Pathmark and it is frequently on sale for 49�. But even though that's twice the price it's just 50� and I wanted my egg cream NOW! And that of course is what I made My Gentle Readers, a delicious egg cream. I don't have a pressure bottle of seltzer but that's not a big deal, I don't actually notice any difference and there shouldn't be one. The seltzer doesn't remember that it was in a pressure bottle. It doesn't mix any better with the milk and syrup. What matters is having real Fox's U-Bet.

The egg cream was self-medicating. I'm very lucky that I can find comfort in comfort food without gaining weight. I know that can be a big problem for many people. I was for me in the past. But the thing is comfort food works. Drinking that egg cream made me feel better.

I needed comfort because I've been lonely. I've been spending very little time talking to people that matter to me. There was Sab's visit this weekend and a few phone conversations but I've been pretty much spending my time alone or with crowds. I enjoy my alone time. I am good company for myself, but I need a change. Maybe I can start reading again. I have not been able to read in ages. I can't concentrate. I don't have a TV so time alone can get tiresome.

You might have noticed that I write a lot about politics and post even more about it on Facebook. I was planning on writing about Syria for the last few days but instead I'm going to write about writing about Syria. It's actually broader than that,

Thanks to internet we all get to live in echo chambers if we want, only hearing the opinions of like minded people. On most issues I can easily identify the Facebook consensus. It isn't the consensus of everyone on Facebook, it is he consensus of the the people that I see posting, my community. I of course agree with most of it. These are my friends. These are people that for the most part see the world similarly to me. But it's most, not all. There are three types of things I can write about.

Things were I agree with the consensus. "Gay rights! Yay!"

Things other people don't post about very often that I think are very important. "He's talking about economics again? I'll go watch a cat video."

And the things where I'm against the consensus, "He's for taking action in Syria, GMOs, and Fracking, ugh, I better watch two cat videos to get the bad taste out of my mouth."

The second group is probably what I write and post the most about. I know you're probably with me but you need to be energized. It's not preaching to the choir but a pep talk. It's trying to add things to the consensus, make you care about things. There have been great strides made in gay rights but we're still losing ground on economic justice. People can get excited in the abstract but not about the nuts and bolts that make things happen.

My goal when I write about the third group is to get others that agree with me to speak out so you'd see that they aren't alone, That's how the consensus moves. I know I'm not going to convince those most vehemently opposed but I want the people in the middle to know it's OK to share my opinions.

And that leads to the first group that I often think of as junk food or pandering. I'm wrong when I think that. Yes I am not changing anyone's mind but I always try to put a twist on it, make you think about things a bit deeper. But what I've been thinking about recently is that it's important because it lets you know that I'm one of you. It lets you identify with me so that when I do disagree you'll listen not shut it out. Well at least sometimes. It's how Krugman moved my opinion on "sweat shops." I know his heart is in the right place. I know he cares about the poor. He cares intensely about the poor. So I know he isn't looking out for he interests of the corporations but for the workers.

OK. I'm going to see if I can eat and do things today. Tonight I'll go see Tomoko Omura with her Bop Trio at pianos.

Happy Birthday to the person that doesn't want public birthday wishes 


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please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile August 30, 2013
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