metonymy4u

to understand why a geek like me would find himself thinking about inertia and newton’s laws in the middle of a dance club, understand this. I’ve never found a social community with which I fit in. so to keep from going completely out of my gourd, I’ve had to find activities to occupy my mind: reading, writing, thinking, photographing, skiing, etc. it’s really just a matter of survival! I mean can you imagine the response I’d get if I walked up to someone in a club and said “have you ever wondered why newton chose the 2nd derivative of movement instead of the 1st as his mathematical model of inertia?” yet, these are the things I wonder about in my spare time.

is it useful to build a fire in the rain? no. you have to find shelter and nurture the flames that have also survived.

I do believe for the most part, that my life has been a meaningless failure. I will nevertheless speak truth to power. They can only kill me once.

looking at the bombs, i think
we best say the things we have to say

My recent exclusion from an online professional community list serve initiated the following thoughts:

No apostate should expect life of infinite accolades. The reason for this is that speciation, quite literally, involves a diagnosis of exclusion. Humanity as a species, one of many, has built itself on the basis of in group solidarity and out group derogation. We need only look to the generation of our parents to identify celebrated instances–leaders like Hitler, Stalin, or Roosevelt–whose work was based on policies of exclusion and hate. And this is not to judge them (a priori) evil. No doubt that they did a great deal of good for many, as well as a great deal of harm to others. Rather, it is simply to note the value of such speakers (Plato of Athens, William Brennan, MLK, Beverly Tatum, Eduardo Duran, Judith Shklar, Carol Gilligan, Marsha Linehan) who encompass at least as much inclusion as exclusion. Which community is your own? Consider, and choose wisely. You are your environment.