Newness...

This blog started on my MySpace page as nothing more than a place for me to deposit all those random news articles (and rants on the random news articles) that I used to obsessively email to everyone I knew. I'm sure my grandmother, former coworkers, people I haven't talked to since high school and everyone else in my address book are eternally grateful that I found a way to redirect my energies.

The thing is, I like to bring things up. I love reading something and thinking, "So-and-so would be so into this!" And I was surprised to find out that people I never thought would've been into a story were in fact into it...okay, that made no sense, but you know what I mean. One of the greatest things about this li'l Internet of ours is how much easier it is to connect with people - not just to meet people or chat them up, but to discover that the person with whom you never thought you'd have anything in common also thinks Andrew Meyer is a douchebag, or is also madly in love with Russell Crowe, or also loves the Carolina Panthers. When I posted things on my MySpace blog, it wasn't just this masterbatory process by which I could see my own words in print, live online. I legitimately wanted to know what the people reading the blog thought about the things I was posting.

I also firmly believe that the mainstream media has let us down when it comes to reporting the news that affects our daily lives (but Britney and Anna Nicole, they've got down). Right or Left or in the middle, I don't know a single person who wouldn't agree with that. So my blog was also a way to bring up issues that I thought my friends should know about, but that weren't necessarily being addressed by the media accessible to the 90% of Americans who don't spend all day in front of a computer getting alerts from 14 different media outlets. There's a lot of screaming out there; I just want to cut through it a little bit.

So you won't find me doing the typical blogger thing: reposting and rehashing some other writer's material (whether to rip it to shreds or praise it as the greatest work of journalism since Watergate). I try to stick to primary sources, because frankly I think we need the reminder that those sources exist. I don't know about you, but I'm beyond fed up with this post-modern orgy of Trackbacks and spin cycles.

I may repost some things that have recently gone up on my old blog...but please feel free to check it out if you're curious. And by all means leave some comments. I may not agree with you, but I won't delete you unless you're an obvious spammer. So, let's start talking...