The Oncoming Hope

I have many thoughts today, mostly related to productivity, but also related to particular points of interest.

I'm starting to eat, sleep and breathe island adventures, which is good I suppose. This is the end goal, the novel. I've never come so far and I've never been so excited about where it's going. When I look at notebooks and notebooks filled with half-written ideas and false-starts, I'm amazed that I've come this far, and I'm more amazed that the momentum is carrying through, and I'm learning more about these characters and this world everyday. I'm certain this momentum will drive me through the completion of the first draft at least. We'll reassess then.

I read a DFW article in Slate today that blew my mind about the utility of language - I've never followed the relativity of language and philosophy before in any substantial way. I want to learn all about Wittgenstein and J.L. Austin and the rest, but I think this ought to wait until the novel is finished.

I am also trying to work out my thoughts on Berlin, the way I once organized them on Prague. There's so much to cover, but there's one fundamental question that I wish to solve: how can Germany move past it's Nazi legacy? How can ten-odd years of a country overshadow everything before or since? I'd argue that communism is much more relevant and emblematic of that nation, as it was created there and nearly destroyed the nation and its people. Again, it's not particularly relevant to today's Germany, but its legacy is present and affecting in many parts of the world. What about philosophy? Germany may not have had great (or at least not as numerous) contributions to the literary canon (fiction, to clarify), but I think that's directly related to its utilitarian philosophy (see what I've done there? Tied this question back to what I've learned today about the theories of Wittgenstein and Austin.)

I'm thinking precisely where I want to be in the New Year, of the many goals, personal and professional, that have been hounding me and that I hope to resolve: I want to find an employment solution that's both personally satisfying and enables me to pursue things that are MORE personally satisfying. I want to turn this website into something real and something significant, and I think the next step is to get more people involved to ensure a steady stream of interesting and well-thought content.

Also, the morning started with a bit of wonderful news. Sady Doyle (author of Tiger Beatdown and active twitterer) started the #Mooreandme campaign one week ago, in order to get him to retract his unfair dismissal of the sex crimes charges against Julian Assange (I've already written elsewhere about the charges, and you know I am not judging guilt in this case, but I am fully in support of any person's right to habeas corpus, whether it be Assange himself or his accusers.) Well, after days and days of radio silence, where Keith Olbermann stood in as his knight of honor to fan the online flames, Moore finally retracted his more egregious statements and apologized publicly on the Rachel Maddow Show.

This is in full credit to the tireless efforts of Sady Doyle, but in many ways I think it was more meaningful because it united feminists and non-feminists in a very honorable cause - the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of justice. Dear God, if we could unite and get Michael Moore of all people to apologize about something, imagine if we put aside our petty differences and worked for real change, all together. It does give one hope, and should remind us all what can happen with strong leadership that is delegated effectively and efficiently.

So I could leave you with a list of New Year's resolutions, but we know what happens with those. This is just a set of questions I hope to answer and problems I hope to solve.