AT LEAST ONE PERSON, stumbling upon the autographical material accessed by clicking on “About the Author” (above right), seized upon my 2004-vintage self-descriptions not as evidence of how much I had changed in the intervening years and months -- how much (if I may be excused the employment of that hateful New Age usage) I had “evolved” -- but rather as the basis for denouncing me as a liar, an imposter, a false-flag operator, a genuine Typhoid Harry of in-group disharmony and perhaps even an infiltrator clandestinely dispatched by some agency of the Great Oppressor -- in any case a dark force who sought to undo all her efforts toward the propagation of enlightenment.
The truth was never so grandiose. Never mind my critic’s implicit rejection of any notion that humans -- especially elderly humans like myself -- might change and grow; I had simply forgotten all about those 2004 autobiographical statements -- absolutely accurate descriptions of my state of mind at the time but utterly invalid today -- and thus, in the process of gradually and little-by-slow resurrecting this blog (which I began late last summer), I not only overlooked them entirely but (of course) also neglected to revise them.
Thus too my heartfelt apology for the part my unintentional negligence played in the unpleasantness that resulted -- a circumstance about which I shall say no more simply because those to whom it is relevant will fully understand (at least presumably they will), while those to whom it is not relevant have no reason to trouble themselves about it.
Nevertheless I urge all readers to the take time to read my new statement of purpose, and not just its summation here:
This site is a journal of political and philosophical evolution, a work-in-progress by an old, impoverished, cast-off and therefore presumably broken white-trash man: a person who nevertheless remains defiant -- a solitary human being who recognizes that, in this time and place, survival itself is a revolutionary act.
To read the full text, click on “About the Author” and then on “By Way of Introduction.”
Meanwhile, the very brightest of Winter Solstice blessings to all of you -- even the aforementioned critic.
I know you'll take this in the spirit intended and not as someone being hypercritical, but near the end I think your sentence should be either
recognizes survival, in this time and place, AS a revolutionary act
or
recongizes THAT survival, in this time and place, IS a revolutionary act
I wasn't proofreading the whole thing, but that stuck out
Posted by: Kid Of The Black Hole at December 22, 2006 02:10 AMGOOD CATCH: that's the kind of stupid mistake when I've been writing 12 hours straight (now 14), proof even former editors need good editors. I've corrected it -- for which many thanks.
Posted by: Loren Bliss at December 22, 2006 03:06 AMSee how punchy I'm getting? So tired I can't even write a complete sentence: should have been "that's the kind of stupid mistake I make..." Definitely time for bed.
Posted by: Loren Bliss at December 22, 2006 03:09 AM
So this is the 5th circle of hell in Dante's travelogue. Not so bad... a little dusting here, some throw pillows over there.