Jim posted a thoughtful response in the comments of my previous entry (“Who Are You?”) (sorry, comments no longer enabled) that naturally caused me to write a damn novel in response, so I’m posting it as a separate entry. And yes, I disagree with Jim on this. But I think he makes reasonable points that I want to address, at great and tiresome length, but also, I hope, convincingly.

We live in a society that offers more cheap, easily obtained opportunities for diversion and amusement than any other in history. And yet, so many of us are depressed, unfulfilled, bored, and unhappy.

I ‘m up way past my bedtime, but I didn’t want to let the day pass without saying something about Howard Zinn, the legendary historian and progressive activist, who died today of a heart attack at 87.

Let me say up front, so you know where I’m coming from, that I’m not the child of San Francisco hippies, raised on sprouts and tofu. I’m a lifelong meat eater. Veganism is something that has not come naturally or easily to me.

I ‘ve been pretty quiet for the past couple of weeks, because I’ve been working on a new weblog. Yeah, I know: another weblog. But this is something that’s near and dear to my heart, and the subject I’ve been feeling most passionate about of late.