...Gravy Boat?

Welcome to my undeveloped musings on the fields that constitute my career(s) and passions--politics, communications, writing, film, literature, and (oh, yeah!) my God and King. I can't promise that the things I write about will seem relevant or interesting to anyone other than myself, but I'll try.

I started this blog at the suggestion of a good friend named Joe and the encouragement of another friend named Kristen. If you get mildly frustrated with it, let me know--I'll pass your sentiments on to Kristen. If you think it's insipid and that the world would have been better off had the idea for it never been planted, let me know--I'll pass your sentiments on to Joe.

What better way to kick off a blog that will probably be mostly musings on politics, faith, art, and the intersection of any two or more of the above than a passage from a novel that's not really about politics or faith by a talented author who I don't like as much as my friends do? (Home Land by Sam Lipsyte, in case you were wondering.)

"Gravy boat! Stay in the now!"

I remembered my father barking those words one Thanksgiving years ago, my mind wandering as it was wandering now, making its maybe-not-so-beautiful-nor-extraordinary connections while a row of aunts and uncles waited for me to pass what wasn't technically a gravy boat but more on the order of a mason jar filled with pan-spooned turkey juice.

While at art school studying fiction writing and film criticism, I became a Christian. After I graduated, the Lord led me into political communications. None of those things happened very long ago, and I'm still working out the exact direction of my calling, finding the place where it intersects with my talents and my joys.

As I explore these paths, I have thoughts and make connections that are maybe-not-so-beautiful-nor-extraordinary. Those are what I'm using as fodder for this blog. I'm sorry that it's topically messy, that there will probably not always be a clear connection between any two posts, but I needed an excuse to keep writing recreationally and keep my expository writing and critical faculties sharp.

If it helps you to cope with the inevitably scattershot nature of some of the upcoming posts, think of the blog as what Hitchcock called "pure cinema"--that is, little strips of unrelated film juxtaposed against one another to create a different meaning or carry a greater message than they would denote on their own.

Or just blame Joe.