Friday, January 28, 2011

1/9/11 -- alive

Alex -- "If there's one thing I've felt more strongly than anything else so far in 2011, it's alive."

Vita: Me too, Alex. Me too.

See, there's a lot I've wanted to do that I have yet to do. There's still that deeply ingrained element of procrastination and over-analysis and whatnot that is intergral to my personality. But this. This is going to be my year. (I guess you can have some, too, if you ask nicely/shower me with fake love à la the latest 30 Rock episode*.) There's this drive pushing forward from the back of my brain and I know that even though I'm screwing up now, shit's going down this year. I know because I will force shit to go down. It's an enormously motivating feeling. I just gotta get my shit together and then shit will go down.

***

"Don't discuss politics and religion in polite company," my ass. To be sure, I can see where that idea comes from. Most people -- actually, it's more like an obnoxious, vocal minority -- seem incapable of disagreeing about shit without screaming themselves insane.

However.

The concept of "polite company" sometimes becomes totally and offensively obsolete. There comes a moment when the idea of sitting down and shutting up in favor of "political unity" results in the numbing, drilling buzz of a million muted voices repeating the same damned words a million different ways, and in a million muted voices somehow managing to say nothing at all.

And you hear about the omnipotent "media" sensationalizing every minor hiccup, and in doing so, numbing us to the Big Disasters. And people curse the blamelessly vague "society" for every last evil on this planet. Well, fuck that. What is "society?" Everything is society. We treat "society" as some huge, imposing institution; a dark enemy that the little people must fight. But blaming "society" for discrimination or social evils is like blaming Planet Earth for natural disasters. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you;" don't condemn the group in which you, by the sheer fact of your own humanity, are included: for every Big Scary Problem that "society" births, there is a Big Happy Solution for which "society" fights every day.

My new English teacher assigned George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" for my class to read. I highly suggest reading it yourself if you get the chance. Unfortunately, I've failed to live up to his standards: although this blog is not explicitly political, it was written with that general intent, and in any case I've presented you with tired metaphors and jumbled, vague language. You could argue that the above two paragraphs hold no meaning at all.

But sometimes a little vagueness is all I can muster. Good luck, Egypt. Peace out, world. I hope you sort your shit out.

***

P.S. Despite Alex's well-reasoned argument against arbitrarily apologizing for not blogging, I would like to apologize for not blogging for the past however long it's been. I don't have an excuse other than that I've had a weird case of writer's block, although I suppose it's more like blogger's writer's block. But! Rejoice! For I am back on track, so let a thousand angels' smiles light up your faces (a. that didn't really make sense; b. I'm so humble, I know).

* 30 Rock really ought to pay me to promote their show. Then again, I DO IT FOR FREE! I DO ANYTHING FOR MORE 30 ROCK LOVEEEEEE

1 comment:

Alex said...

I wish I could remember what made me feel like writing that. I probably finished reading Jellicoe Road or something.

But yeah, I'm going to own this year, too. So far so good. Mostly.