Introduction

When I was an undergrad, I started writing my first novel. I made it about five hundred words in before I realized I knew absolutely nothing about writing any such thing. My ideas weren't creative ones—they weren't people. Rather, they were as non-fiction as it gets. In The End of the Affair, Graham Greene semi-autobiographically recalls a time when one of his characters just wouldn't come alive for him. Greene couldn't get into his head and figure out what the protagonist would say to his lover or how he would react to the circumstances thrust before him. I realized after reading this that I did not have what it takes to create another human being, and my characters forever remained scratches on paper.

The title of my awful little book was "A Place to Stand," and it was going to follow a Dead Poets, Inkling-like group through their formative years in college. They were the Fulcrums. As you might have guessed, I was attempting to be clever and draw from Archimedes famous little quip about levers: "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the earth." It was a bit too clever.

Now, after teaching high school for a year, receiving a MA and stumbling through half of a PhD program so far, I realize moving the world is a bit more complicated than all that. Structures don't budge easily; traditions think they never change at all; revolutions tend to change things too quickly, replacing one tyrannical power with another. History has gained momentum, and we are formed by our past more than we shape our future. Society has grown too large, too complicated. It has too many buttons and levers, and the consequences for pushing the wrong one have become drastic.

I have come to realize that I am no Archimedes: I am not an earth mover. The words I write will not save the world, and people will continue in their ways until, for whatever reason, they no longer can. So where does that leave me? What is my role on this planet, in this society, or country, or city, or neighborhood? Perhaps it's not to work the lever, but to help build the fulcrum. My trade will always be in words, in teaching and learning, in reading and writing. So, to explore this possibility, to think out loud, to vent, to share, to learn, I'll be writing here.

I am interested in intelligent conversation, pragmatic thinking, and mutual respect. There are already too many sound bites, too many Facebook rants, too many talking points and slogans. I look forward to musing here, and I look forward to your comments.