An Introduction From Uprising’s New Blogger and Editor

I guess I should introduce myself, this being my first post to the blog and all. I’m Brian. And I would like to thank Joel, for his courage and recklessness, inviting me to do whatever the hell it is I’ll be doing here. By trade I paint pictures. So it’s been rare that I’ve had any writing find exposure in the realm of professional masthead journalism. Mostly, over the years, I’ve written letters. Not always critical, but often. Sometimes fanmail. And for some reason still inexplicable to me, I’ve received replies. (I mean, never mind inclination, I just never expect folks to have the time.) I mention this as an encouragement to people to write letters - to reporters, to Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, to Supreme Court Justices, to members of Congress, to prominent national magazine editors, and to people already regarded by history with awe and great appreciation. It would seem that letters often do get read by the people to whom they are sent. Every odd once in awhile, though, something I’ve written has shown up in public print. This is not the first appearance of my writing on In These Times real estate. I’ve corresponded with Joel, on and off, for something near a fifth of a century. And back in the day, he once published one of my little screeds in his column. And I also functioned as an actual reporter, when the editors published as news a list of the inventive protest signs I observed at a Los Angeles march against the first war in Iraq. And this is not the first time I’ve had my fulminations hosted online by a professional journalistic enterprise. In 1993, I think - could’ve been ‘94, Wired online hosted an audio clip of my reading the following poem. I did a cursory check of their archives, but I didn’t find it. Anyway, not that I expect to write many poems, I thought this one would serve to introduce me as well as anything else. IN PRAISE OF REPUBLICANS April 1993/March 2006 From locusts, plague, and sundry grief humanity must suffer. It's all a part of god's great plan designed to make us tougher. We're prompted to respond to pain; it's what keeps us alert. We learn fast not to touch hot stoves; our health depends on hurt. Our pain, then, is for our own good. In anguish we must dwell to guard against complacency. So life on earth is hell. From misery we prosper, though. We triumph over pain. The worse we are afflicted means the greater is our gain. Our desolation functions like a booster shot vaccine, creating antibody strength. And progress, hence, is seen. Malaise, disaster, pestilence, and tortuous distress, vexation, scourge, embarrassment, traumatic wretchedness, the stinging itch of insect bites, tornadoes, allergies, big boogers dangling from our nose, earthquakes and heart disease, the woes of constipation and the rot of pyorrhea, the need to barf coincident with real bad diarrhea, V.D., cockroaches, toxic waste, zits, bruises, cuts and bumps; each serves to motivate us, like sharp sticks poked in our rumps. Our pain is inspirational, a challenge to survive. Our need breeds our inventiveness, and therefore helps us thrive. We need to value suffering, for though it makes us sad, each pain is useful reference to contrast good from bad. Ergo sincerely I give thanks, with due solemnity, and dedicate this tribute to the goddamned G O P. -- -- and now, in today’s news: Abramoff unburdens himself to Vanity Fair http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/8/11633/33597 ex-Reagan Navy Secretary James Webb officially announces candidacy as Dem in Virginia http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=100760&ran=170754 noteworthy observations on the coming abortion wars: Digby http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_digbysblog_archive.html#114176844964079664 Atrios http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_03_05_atrios_archive.html#114183891789058381 DarkSyde at dailykos discusses the definition of “conception” - it simply don’t mean what abortion opponents want it to mean http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/8/64210/84840