Off we go...

Well, here we are. Thanks for taking the time to read this; I hope you won't be disappointed.

I've read a few things on writing lately; one of them can be found here. It contains a scathing testament against the education system in the United States, which led me to think about this piece, the prologue to a book I'm interested in reading. My favorite passage from the prologue sets the tone for what I hope the contents of this blog will be:

Reading my essay will help you sort things out. It will give you a different topological map upon which to fix your own position. No doubt I’ve made some factual mistakes, but essays since Montaigne have been about locating truth, not about assembling facts. Truth and fact aren’t the same thing.

Indeed, truth and fact are often quite distant from one another, but they are rarely, if ever, disassociated from each other entirely. Sometimes, though, people have become so settled in their ways of thinking that it takes great energy to wrest them from their track. They are comfortable walking along their path of truth, passing well-known waypoints of facts along the way. Eventually, the walls of the track become so high, the groove worn so deep, that they can no longer see other paths they might take.

So, in that squishy, "everyone's included, let's sing Kum Ba Yah" manner that makes us feel good and sick to our stomachs all at the same time, I say let's embark on a journey of discovery together. I'll provide a few essays, as well as links to other people's essays, interesting items around the net, and whatever suits my fancy. You post comments, let me know when I either hit the mark or hit the backstop (sorry for mixing metaphors there).

I've been posting to various messageboards around the Internet for many years. In recent times, I've taken to adding a signature to my posts (it took me many years to come up with something I felt represented what I was saying while being cute at the same time). From that "sig," I created the name for this collection of essays. I hope they live up to my expectations. But more importantly, I hope they live up to yours, because without you, my audience, I write for nothing.

--
If you don't stir the pot,
the stuff at the bottom just sits there.