never complain, never explain



I do a lot of whining on this web site. This is in contrast to how I try to behave in person (except with my loving and patient wife). The church committee meeting I attended yesterday afternoon was an example of me attempting to be constructive and not too  intense (godforbid, I should whine!).

It’s my goal to be a relatively calm presence at these meetings.

More importantly I try to make constructive comments and get people thinking a bit out of the usual “what color should the toilet paper be” mind set of church committees. It takes tremendous energy.

My boss and I often sort of “team teach” these committees. She and I spend hours in conversation analyzing and speculating about how this community does church. Our relationship of course can annoy other staff members who (like many in the community) mght think I’m a bit “too big for my britches.”

I wonder if some people I annoy would be more comfortable if I did the typical posturing and gave the appearance of knowledge and expertise.  Instead I choose not to cater to “you are what you appear” and simply “be.”  So I get misread and underestimated a lot. And since I don’t fit an easy identifiable pattern others sometimes get defensive and uncomfortable with me.

Krazy Kat comic by George Herrimann from the '30s

Toujours gai, archie, toujours gai! There’s some life in the old gal yet!

Don Marquis's Archy and Mehitabal drawings are a little older than Herrimann. Hmmm. They remind me of each other.

Besides whining (Was I whining again? Oops! Sorry!) I also use this blog to explain myself to myself. I’m afraid that I sometimes am not very good at this. But I it is my purpose to elucidate my point of view and my experience of life and art here as a sort of personal therapy and invitation to conversation.

Speaking of elucidating….

Yesterday I only  mentioned two news sources that I utilize.  I actually check many sites online regularly as well as follow sites (and reporters) on Facebook and Twitter.

Today I thought I would link in a few of these.

In no particular order:

The Browser: writing worth reading

This is one of those sites of links to other sites. It’s purpose is to “recommend writing of lasting value to the intelligent general reader” (from its about section).

This morning I used the site, Big Questions Online to link to an interesting article by Susan Jacoby with this memorable quote:

Somehow, “I love you” isn’t the first thing that would come to mind if I were being held down by female relatives while my clitoris was maimed or if my father told me I had to marry a stranger. from “Multiculturalism and Its Discontents”

I have been watching C-Span since its inception. The very idea that any citizen can watch broadcast of the US House or Senate is very attractive to me.  http://www.c-span.org/

RealClearPolitics

This another compiler site. I like it because when I check it I get a sense of what are the current topics being bandied about in the Editorials and commentaries in the press. Tends to link to Op Ed type articles on several sides of any debate.  http://realclearpolitics.com/

I started checking this site more regularly when my quasi-son-in-law Jeremy Daum mentioned that he thought it was one of the online sites that did breaking news best. Drudge is slimey and hates liberals but also a must for trying to track a story. http://drudgereport.com/

What can I say? Like others of my online sources, I used to read this before the Internet. Now I think they have quit publishing and are only available online.  Excellent clear-headed well written journalism.  http://www.csmonitor.com/

Another great institution in our country.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/

I subscribed to the paper version for a few years, before the New York Times delivered to my little city.  It was during this time that they ran the series (that eventually won the Pulitzer prize) about the disgraceful DNA discoveries that so many felons on death row in Illinois were wrongfully convicted. It’s not as good as it was but still a good paper. http://www.chicagotribune.com/

I got interested in the LA Times after reading it a few times on visits to California to see my son and his fam. I was surprised at how excellent some of the writing and reporting it contained was. Definitely a must read to get out of the East Coast and Beltway bias. http://www.latimes.com/

I end today’s selection with one I have been following online the longest. This is the brainchild of Denis Dutton author of The Art Instinct. I was reading it before I ever heard of him. It is a compiler and well worth checking. Only updates during the week. http://www.aldaily.com/

I have many more bookmarked. More later.

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0 thoughts on “never complain, never explain

  1. Well, with the current legal prohibitions that are being implemented against commentators to be careful in what they say. Apparently, this is not the blogger issue, only the comment section and can only be a problem if the blogger does not offer up their site info. to investigators. So I have nothing to say. Have a nice day.

  2. Not exactly sure what you mean by “legal prohibitions.” I’m not aware that commentators are being warned to be careful in what they say. What does that mean, I wonder? The sites I linked in in this entry are not blogs, but news sites and sites that link in other news sites. And most comment sections that I read online are moderated. Commentators have to at least provide email addresses or contact info. Comments of people who “flame” or express themselves inappropriately are quickly removed often after they are flagged by other readers. This is true of the New York Times comments as well as the local paper, the Holland Sentinel website. What sites are you finding that comment sections behave in the manner you describe?

  3. This was a problem that I heard from a website guru. He was commenting on the recent legal case which was brought by a (I think) company regarding posting of information on the internet by a person not happy with the product or service. This was ruled as defamatory by the court and has resulted in potential liability issues for anyone commenting on any bloger’s website. I was sort of tongue in cheek about this issue. It like trying to stop the Niagara falls from falling.

  4. This is fairly true around Internet blogging. Was listening to some legal talk radio the other day and the lawyer stated that if you blog regarding “you will get ripped off if you go with this company” you are susceptible to legal recourse as opposed to blogging “I got ripped off by this company”. Of coarse it is all relative….nes pa? Davidj

  5. Wow. Did a little googling on this and could not find any news reports about actual lawsuits in this area. I did find what looks like a good info page about the issue.
    http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/overview

    I have been contacted by people unhappy with my copyright violations. But they quieten down when I simply remove what bothers them. My quasi-son-in-law Jeremy the lawyer is frustrated I let them bully me in that way, but frankly I don’t care that much. Jeremy insists I could string them a long and wear them down.

  6. I did a little more creative searching and did find a bit of evidence of some suits. Most pending and most old. FWIW

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