About this blog
This is a renewed attempt to share my life experiences and ponderings. Above and beyond all else, this is a personal blog/journal. Writing things down helps me in mulling it over and having an audience gives me a reason to stay honest (omitting or changing info to protect privacy as necessary).
Consider this my personal sandbox. 
My own journey has strayed from convention on many levels, allowing for a taste freedom (and its associated costs) in a fashion typically reserved for marginalized misfits (a label which may very well include me now days). These life lessons have dramatically contorted and colored my worldview, inevitably leading to the re-analyzation of every “fact”, professed ideal, standard, and claim that I and plenty of others previously took for granted (particularly as they relate to wars, psychology, gender relations, crime and punishment, and economics). With far more questions than answers, I am publicly revisiting the realm of politics and inequalities from a socially-concerned perspective after a lengthy departure from the mainstream channels, in search of a better understanding of why things are as they are.
For a number of years now, I’ve preferred living without cable television since sensationalism and blatantly-slanted propaganda is being paraded as ‘unbiased’ news. I came up denied regular access to cable as a youngen, for which I remain very grateful. This mindless form of entertainment is not suitable for purposes of educating the public, IMO, and neither is much of the junk cranked out by the popular press. So, without apology, I chose “living under a rock” over following the currents, which is working out well in avoiding being indoctrinated and sold on Nationalism (and Obama-mania). The downside is that I’m often one of the last to know what’s going on, but I feel this is offset by focusing instead on personal enrichment, inquiries, and ideas, ignoring much of the garbage spat out by popular news outlets.
The information I access comes from the Internet, scholarly peer-reviewed journals (when I was in school anyway), books, and a number of independent news sources. Other random sites too. This blog serves as a place to store and share some of what I find interesting in hopes that others will look it over and be inspired to go out and learn more for themselves.
The information and links provided do not necessarily wholly reflect my own opinions (unless specifically stated), but are meant to be food for thought for myself (primarily) and curious others as we each try to make sense of what’s going on these days.
Follow-up (August 2009) explaining this blog for storage of writing fodder for other projects:
My problem is figuring out how to best express my thoughts in a way that others hopefully would be willing to read and find worthwhile. Meaning topics will have to be broken into manageable pieces or applied through a fictitious lens. I’ve never been one to write fiction but for some reason there’s this tugging in the back of head that nags me to at least try. So my view is a bit skewed and dramatized as I aim to explore the ideas and possibilities that pop to mind. My goal for the last many months has been to let the ideas flow, no matter how absurd they may seem, and then see what can be molded from what I’ve learned and thought about. This blog is a collection of those thoughts, meandering as they may be.
Forever trying to define what the heck I’m doing on here since even relative anonymity doesn’t make one invulnerable. Nor should it permit us to behave in ways we wouldn’t normally around folks in person. Luckily, my people put up with my questions and rambling and aren’t easily shocked.
Heck, if someone else finds a tidbit useful for writing inspiration of your own, have at it. Even letters to the editor of a newspaper help us to augment and improve our writing craft.
Oh, and all links are added by me (unless posted by others in comments obviously), not by AdWords or similar “pay-per-click” programs. All are resources I found at least mildly interesting, whether or not I agree with all of their linked info.
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wakemenow said
http://wakemenow.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/why-share/
Ariel said
The workers at the Bronx, NY Stella D’Oro Biscuit Co. went on strike in August 13, 2008, and are still on strike today. Among other things, they are protesting pay cuts. The latest issue of the Manhattan-based Indypendent had an article about the strike and the people behind it. I thought you may be interested in reading the article and was hoping that you may mention the strike in your blog, or could you suggest other blogs I could get in touch with about the topic.
http://www.indypendent.org/2009/03/20/bronx-bakery-battle/