"Describing herself as a polymath, Sontag once declared that, 'to be a polymath is to be interested in everything, and nothing else.'" (From this obituary.)
Well, at some point this weblog will become completely embarrassing, because I'll have to try to clarify what I think it's about, and that's not going to be pretty. At least each post will eventually scroll off the page.
What I think it's about is self-development, using an evolutionary idea, that by writing and writing (it's hard to make myself write full paragraphs, since they reveal the state of things--I'm much more drawn to write the obtuse little squibs) I'll gradually make the connections and build the structures in my own brain that I think ought to be there. That I won't feel fully smart until they're there. that they have to be mirrored in writing or they don't exist. That there's a mental ecology that needs tending, or flushing, as the case may be, in order to be healthy.
The other thing it's about of course is making connections with others, becoming known. Somehow people have to be able to talk about the things that are important to them. Some people have no problem doing this, but others of us find it awkward and artificial to bring the conversation around to something we find interesting, and even then find it almost impossible to express much about it. Aagh. Thoughts that seem coherent when mulled privately prove thin and insubstantial when offered up.
As I was saying tonight, I'm hoping to discover how the things that seem interesting in what I read are linked, or have something in common. Will I see it or will others see it? Maybe they can tell me (Stephen's idea). I was expressing how this might end up being a log of frustration, frustration that I really can't participate in "the issues of the day," or of any other day. I read a fascinating article about Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the Nation, and also the Guardian; and that may be that for that subject. Yes, there's quite a mixing of feminism, anti-multiculturalism, human rights, questioning liberal values, left and right: a heady brew. But I can only penetrate the first 2 inches into the topic. Then there's the Supreme Court. And the books on Evolution (Dawkins and Gould). And the novels I want to read. Well, it's all fodder for writing practice, and the fact that it's in public does provide the extra frisson.
10:49:54 PM 
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