"We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." -Oscar Wilde
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Port Washington, NY, United States

Monday, January 15, 2007

Where are we going?

Since I don't have a television, I hooked my laptop up to our projector and streamed cspan for George W. Bush's recent speech. Because we enlarged the tiny window on our massive wall, his facial expressions were not clear. Perhaps this is why I can safely say, "His annoying smirks did not make me throw stuff at the screen."

We listened to his new plan quite intently, often questioning if he heard any of the American people, or if he went deaf by all of the Americans surrounding the White House chanting, "No More War, No More War, No More War." Then I remembered that I didn't see any news articles about huge rallies outside of the White House, well, not recently at least.

What are we doing these days? I know that I'm tucked away in my apartment, chain-smoking as I read more and more news clippings about the possible outcomes of Iraq. The other day I drove down a road nearby my apartment that is always busy with restaurant and bar goers. There were about 30 people standing on the side-walk with signs that read, "No More War", "Stop Bush", "Peace!", etc. I honked my horn in recognition of their efforts.

I honked my horn...
What is that? When did that become an acceptable means of protest? When did we stop showing the Government what we want and let the polls do their work? Obviously they don't do the trick.

I recently read a news article in the New York Times' Week in Review by Hellene Cooper titled, "The Best We Can Hope For". She explains that the best we can possibly hope for in Iraq is a Civil War, while the worst we can hope for in Iraq is nuclear war. Better yet, Civil War is inevitable, while nuclear war is slightly possible.

On that same page is an article titled, "In the Land of Bold Beauty, A Trusted Mirror Cracks". Apparently Brazil is no longer a place that accepts the fleshy women with bottoms. Anorexia is on the rise. Since I don't live in Brazil, and better yet- have never been to Brazil-I don't know if this idea of fleshy women was ever embraced. Our mass media has always told me that it's true, but when did it alter?

All of these things confuse me. I feel like I'm on an express train to hell, and there is no getting off. Did we sign up for this ride? I don't remember reading about this in the brochure. My young days of bright hope have been darkened with reality. And, frankly, I'm scared shitless to have children.

First Entry

The last time I started an Online Blog was May 2002 on livejournal.com. I continued to blog on a semi-normal basis for about three years. This particular blog served as a personal diary where I wrote numerous entries that I later realized would have been better off as private entries. There were times when I wrote about a book I was reading, politics, or art, but more often than not, my entries would include my own personal struggle with both religion and faith. After my nasty fall-out with religion, these entries would frequently lead to debate and anger among my readers, who were mostly old friends from the Church I attended in 2002. By the time 2005 rolled around, I didn't have much more to say. Perhaps I didn't want to speak to my readers anymore, but frankly, I was better off without the blogging battles.

Eventually, in late 2005, my brother started an Online community for our family hosted at bloomston.com. These blogs were limited, but the site was a wonderful tool to keep our family in contact and updated on our lives. At some point, through website updates and our busy schedules, our family stopped blogging.

Since bloomston.com went silent, I started a couple new blogs that were never used. On occasion I post blog entries on myspace.com, but these are rarely read by other people and aren't necessarily intended for large audiences.

So, here we are. The content of Nous Letters is still unknown, but I do believe this blog will be far more coherent and tolerable than previous blogs. (And, on that note, I don't recommend clicking the links above as it will be a daunting task to find something worth reading.) I do not write much poetry these days, so I believe that will be pretty limited here. I have been reading the Newspaper and some books again, so I'm sure that will be thrown into the mix. As for my life, I will keep this blog limited to questions and ideas running through my crazy head. I will try to keep updates on my life limited, as I know that if a reader was interested, he/she would ask. In the meantime, look back later today for another entry.

PS- Nous is my chess handle on FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) and it also sounds like "news". Look up "nous" on dictionary.com for more interesting definitions that make me sound like an arrogant bastard. Enjoy.

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