Do You Remember Your President Nixon? Thursday, August 14, 2003

A friend of mine asked me last night about the "safety" of blogging: Do you say things here that you wouldn't otherwise, knowing that friends of yours will be reading? A good question, almost as good as the one in the title of this posting, which I remembered this morning when "Young Americans" came on the iPod.

I found myself thinking about "Reality Bites", an advertisement for our generation's claim to be Lost; when in fact we were just stumbling around for a while between graduation and our first real job. The movie featured a cover of the Bowie song, which is the only thing I remember fondly about it. That and the buddies I went with: a scientist, who is now turning atoms into Italian ices, and a musician, who doesn't talk to me anymore.

We busted up over things left unsaid too long. When it came to politics, he always spoke his mind; I always held back. From awkward aborted exchanges over the years he knew we weren't on the same page. He came to realize we weren't even in the same book. And that was that. The implication: If he'd known all along what I really thought, he wouldn't have gotten as close as he did.

So, to answer the question at the top of this posting, yes, I put things here I wouldn't say in real life. With work, with schedules, with everything, I only have a few hours a week to talk to people, so the conversation comes out concentrated. Lots of catching up, lots of jokes, lots of reassurance that the other people still really exist. Which doesn't leave a lot of room for Larry Hart, Walker Percy or politics, for that matter.

Hence the blog: To remind myself that I still have the energy and inclination to think about those things, and to give everybody else an idea of what's in the ellipses.

Now a silly story to edit. Take care.

@ 9:54:00 AM,

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