my first blog, ever

2005-07-24T23:21:00.000-04:00

Sally Sally has sent me this meme to finally get me to blog…so the "Blog to Nowhere" is actually going somewhere today…

Total number of books owned: No idea, but it’s a lot…well into the hundreds
Last book bought: I’m not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
Last book read: I just finished three books in the past couple of days, and they are: Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg Ohio; Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar; and Niccolo Ammaniti’s I’m not Scared
Five books that mean a lot to you (not in any particular order):
This is a strange mix and there are so many more for so many reasons, but these are some that come to mind at the moment…
Emile Zola’s Germinal
Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying
R. M. Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus
Henry Miller Tropic of Cancer

Ok, so now on to some ramblings...
The recent bombings have only solidified my confusion and the turmoil of feelings I have which circles on and around our current political situation. I spoke to the lovely EK today about some of these issues, and I know you, dear Sally, have blogged on the issue as well. So here’s a question: Is it just me, or does it seem that our generation, and more importantly, the now early 20 something generation seems apathetic and disinterested in our current political position? ( i.e.; the “war” on terror, the bombings, etc, etc.) Or is there something more happening? Are we, perhaps, turning back to the veiled comfort of an earlier time? It seems that there is no passion to fight against (or even for those on the right to stand up for) our current situation (and here I’m referring to emotion and fervor of any youth driven movement). There just seems to be acceptance, which is sort of scary, to me anyway. At first blush, I wanted to blame things on the media. More specifically, I was focused on how our society is saturated in pop culture; we are high on celebrity and consumerism, blah, blah, blah, and it seems that real issues, especially political issues have been gently swept under the tv ratings and the reality carpet. But, the more I consider, the more I can’t blame “pop culture.” Now, I think we may have to turn back to the late 60's and 70’s and the anti-draft/ antiwar movement…when we boil things down, we know it wasn't all about the war, but also those “kids” were moving away from the conservatism and platforms of the 50’s, which most of us growing up in the 80’s and beyond had the luxury of enjoying without thinking about the how’s and why’s things were the way they were, or even how they are. Now, it seems to me that this new generation, some of the X’ers and the youth following, are reverting back to conservatism…doesn’t it seem that they are looking toward what was so deeply fought against? It seems that our current voting society is consuming the rhetoric of the Bible belt and Christian fundamentalists (I'm not trying to offend, just stating my opinion), and wholeheartedly trusting the government…so, how did we get here? And, am I just reading too much into how I think things are? See, this is why I should maybe not blog…I’m just going to ramble out all the junk in my head…