so it goes…

well, here we go. the pen (er, key), has made its first mark upon this …vast…blankness. no turning back now! it’s funny, really. that a white space on a computer screen could turn into…well, anything i feel like turning it into. powerful’s how i’m currently feeling. let’s hope it doesn’t go to my head and that it goes to good use.

writing’s just plain powerful - and i don’t do enough of it. so, maybe that’s why i’m doing this.

i’ve started (re-started, actually) to read the book 1984. a society where freedom and speech and expression are not concepts, as the government monitors every move the people make through a TV screen placed in every household. the main character finds a way, though, to hide himself from the screen so that he may write. to warn future generations of his plight. to spill out the thoughts he has that he cannot afford to even express upon his face. to relieve the pressure upon his mind, filled with questions and thoughts that aren’t allowed. to force the pen and paper to carry a piece of his load.

paper is always ready and willing to hold ideas that burden our minds but are too difficult to speak.

let’s face it. both our minds and our mouths need a break sometimes. too much of either can get us into trouble, so i think paper is obliged to mediate when we find ourselves too heavy on either end of the mind/mouth spectrum.

i will spare you the other examples flying around in my brain about roles of writers in stories and in history. just know they seem to always save the day/world, and they’re my heroes.
okay, well just one quick one. writers in the dark ages who saved massive amounts of knowledge from completely disappearing from that part of the earth by hand-copying pages upon pages of words all day long?!? yeah, incredible. okay - got it out. thank you.

it’s an opportunity that we have that many don’t or historically haven’t, and the more i think about it, the sillier (more silly?) i feel for not taking it. it’s not about being “talented” or “not-so-talented” at writing. writing stimulates and stretches the mind. the avenue of language was originally spoken only - so to express ideas in a written manner forces us to think a bit more than we generally would. dangerous! and beautiful.

so basically, this blog is a persuasive essay to myself. to convince myself to examine my thoughts more deeply and, (scary part!) take the risk that others just might stumble upon this spill of my brain that i didn’t even plan in the slightest.

let’s see if it works.