This blog will be a collection of personal essays on a variety of topics, each and every entry beautifully crafted and perfectly edited. Now you know what my sarcasm sounds like. In reality, I am just starting this whole writing thing. Well, that’s not entirely true, I’ve been writing since I was a kid. In fact, my first published work was a widely circulated (over a two-block radius) newspaper (Xeroxed and collated by yours truly) called the Central Avenue News. If you lived in Greenport, New York in 1985 I’m sure you remember my Op-Ed on the construction at the end of our block. No? Not enough of a resume? I did keep multiple journals from the time I was seven through eighteen but those got washed away in the Great Basement Flood of 2005. So, I don’t have much street cred. But if you like my “voice” so far, or, more likely, if you know me in real life and feel like doing me a favor, I hope you will keep reading.
Dinty Moore writes in his excellent book Crafting the Personal Essay that an essay “invites extreme playfulness and almost endless flexibility”. This just about captures my approach. I’m a doctor and a mother, which means a lot of people look to me for guidance, support, and answers to hard questions (spoiler alert: I don’t always have them). I like the idea of pushing myself to puzzle through certain topics and ideas that stay with me, that I can’t quite shake and keep coming back to, looking for a conclusion of sorts. Why do I find certain topics particularly funny, or poignant, or strange? What is it about certain details that lodge themselves in my brain, irritating me like a stone in my shoe? Do other people see the world like I do? The answer to that last question is a resounding no. Or, rather, not necessarily.
The books that I most enjoy reading make me see the world differently, make me question my own conclusions, push me to view things in a different light. When an author captures in words an idea or feeling I too have had it’s a revelation! That’s quite a lofty goal for my humble blog, however, and will ensure I never attempt to write anything. Instead, I’m approaching this blog as a kind of exercise in thinking through my reactions and conclusions and, perhaps, finding new ones. A bit of mental stretching. In making all of this public I am inviting others to comment and quite possibly disagree with me, which I think I feel okay about, though the jury is still out. If you’ve made it this far, thank you. If you choose to subscribe, or just check in periodically, thank you even more.
Thanks for joining me!
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. -Mark Twain
Coffee and Empathy 