Question of the Day

"Sure, there are center-right candidates — like Jeb Bush and John Kasich. But can they run, win and govern from the center-right when the base of their party and so many of its billionaire donors reflect the angry anti-science, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-minorities, anti-gay rights and anti-immigration views of the Tea Party and its media enforcer, Fox News?"

-- Thomas L. Friedman at The New York Times

The Republicans have their first debate tomorrow. It is very, very early in the contest, but it is nonetheless striking, and a little worrisome, that Donald Trump maintains a big lead for the Republican nomination.

March 1, 2003

This poem is based on my journal entry of March 1, 2003, which also happens to be my first big entry into the blogosphere of the Internet, my first post at Blurty. It was such a big turning point in my life. I would be hard pressed to think of an occasion that has greater sentimental value for me.

~ ~ ~

I've post my first blurt and become Blogger,
Destroyer of worlds, or at least of words,
And just in time for this artful dodger;
I was down, out, thinking life's for the birds!

Books were no longer cutting it for me,
Not Lolita and Humbert's nympholepsy,
Not the Iliad and all of Achilles' wrath,
Not Magic Mountain and Castorp's path,
Not Orwell's Big Brother or Animal Farm;
Even poetry and Shakespeare lost their charm.

My life was feeling dreary and cheap,
And I was settling in for the big sleep,
Drowsing and napping through more of my day,
Preparing myself for the lead sleeping pill
That from my loneliness would take me away,
So nevermore would I feel such terrible ill.

But then I got a Christmas miracle,
And never was that myth more lyrical.

Pop got us a computer,
We're going cruising
On the Information Superhighway,
Surfing in cyberspace,
Becoming citizens of the World Wide Web:
My writing is going live on the Internet.

I'm going to make friends and talk to girls;
They won't see my face but will read my words;
They will see my wit and show their tits,
And we'll talk of meeting up to heat it up.

But I had to get a web-camera and show my face,
And the gig was up, and I'm put back in my place,
Just one of the little jokes of the human race.

But it was a wonderful three years, the best:
I felt alive again, smart, as good as the rest.
And though I am alone again, and now too old
For another sweet chance at a romantic fling,
I feel anew the little joys in this harsh world,
And I hunger to see what tomorrow will bring.

-- e. e. monk

* * *

Between December of 2002 and March of 2003, it took me a while to work up my nerve to become a member of a website. There be dragons! And I was right to be scared. I did get wounded, again. But it was worth it. I needed it badly. There were some good times. It gave me back my sense of humanity.