Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Been gone so long
After effectively disappearing from cyberspace for more than a year, what should I say by way of re-introduction? Truth to tell, I haven't changed much. I'm still gay, still conservative and Republican, and still interested in the arts -- primarily film, theater and music. Between film and theater, I prefer theater. Although I have seldom written about music in the past, my preferences in that field are classical chamber music and small-combo jazz. I am not averse to modernism or serialism, though I find them difficult to describe. I tend to write about the intersection of politics and the arts, because I can be fairly certain (as certain as I can be about anything, at least) that some reader, somewhere, will be interested in one or the other. And because I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, with close family ties to the evangelical-fundamentalist Bible Belt, I tend to write about culture and politics from what some people would consider an odd perspective.
Why did I leave the blog? It wasn't because I had run out of things to say. I was afraid, rather, that I had run out of new or exciting ways to say them. (There was another reason, too, which I'll get to after a few more warm-up posts.) To be fair, along with most conservatives in 2008, I was feeling deeply demoralized as well, in part because the 2008 presidential campaign gave little reason for hope. During primary season I was in the "Republicans for Hillary" camp -- partly a reaction against the blatant misogyny directed at la femme Clinton, but mostly an attempt at "harm reduction." So much for that. Barack Obama's election clearly communicated, for those of us who didn't know it already, that America is now the least racist nation in the world. Although that's some cause for celebration, any serious (or not-so-serious) conservative must find the looming prospect of four years of "Obamanomics" about as reassuring as a firebell in the night.
But enough with the polemics for now: I'm back, and I don't intend to go away for some time, and this time, barring calamity or catastrophe, when I do finally hang up my pen I'll let my readers know. Until my next post, gentle reader, there's an enormous archive for you to peruse, and much to my shock and surprise the vast majority of the posts haven't aged that much. The posts from five years ago arguing for same-sex marriage are, alas, as relevant as ever.
After effectively disappearing from cyberspace for more than a year, what should I say by way of re-introduction? Truth to tell, I haven't changed much. I'm still gay, still conservative and Republican, and still interested in the arts -- primarily film, theater and music. Between film and theater, I prefer theater. Although I have seldom written about music in the past, my preferences in that field are classical chamber music and small-combo jazz. I am not averse to modernism or serialism, though I find them difficult to describe. I tend to write about the intersection of politics and the arts, because I can be fairly certain (as certain as I can be about anything, at least) that some reader, somewhere, will be interested in one or the other. And because I live in Charlottesville, Virginia, with close family ties to the evangelical-fundamentalist Bible Belt, I tend to write about culture and politics from what some people would consider an odd perspective.
Why did I leave the blog? It wasn't because I had run out of things to say. I was afraid, rather, that I had run out of new or exciting ways to say them. (There was another reason, too, which I'll get to after a few more warm-up posts.) To be fair, along with most conservatives in 2008, I was feeling deeply demoralized as well, in part because the 2008 presidential campaign gave little reason for hope. During primary season I was in the "Republicans for Hillary" camp -- partly a reaction against the blatant misogyny directed at la femme Clinton, but mostly an attempt at "harm reduction." So much for that. Barack Obama's election clearly communicated, for those of us who didn't know it already, that America is now the least racist nation in the world. Although that's some cause for celebration, any serious (or not-so-serious) conservative must find the looming prospect of four years of "Obamanomics" about as reassuring as a firebell in the night.
But enough with the polemics for now: I'm back, and I don't intend to go away for some time, and this time, barring calamity or catastrophe, when I do finally hang up my pen I'll let my readers know. Until my next post, gentle reader, there's an enormous archive for you to peruse, and much to my shock and surprise the vast majority of the posts haven't aged that much. The posts from five years ago arguing for same-sex marriage are, alas, as relevant as ever.
# posted by Tim : 9:53:00 PM
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