Daily writing experiment, part one

Yes, I know, the title for this entry is not the most imaginative ever thought up. I didn't want to spend too much time thinking up something witty and sexy, and instead want to get right to the writing.

So here I am, 3-1/2 months into looking for a new job, and at the beginning of this endeavor, back in February, my girlfriend suggested that I could use blogging as a way to get my "workdays" started. Typical to my hardheaded foolish nature, I nodded, agreeing it was a good idea, and then totally forgot to take up on her suggestion.

In the meantime, all my writing has come to a complete halt, and all of us who have taken a creative writing course remember that part of getting the old creative juices flowing (flow, juices, flow!) is writing everyday. For me that means regular writing without any critical eye as to what comes out. Before I can start to channel my creativity into a certain area, there needs to be creativity to channel!

So here I am. I know I owe you all a travellog on the recent trip I took with Therese to Morocco and Spain. And I have a list as long as my arm (hmmm, maybe I should write that list down...) of other topics to write on - some being pet peaves of mine, or generally things I feel passionate about, or stuff that amuses me and I hope amuses someone else besides me...

It is hot and sunny here on Tuesday morning in New York City. I haven't read today's news, in fact I probably won't read the news today. Hey, there's a topic: reading the news. Let me talk about that for a bit.

For many people, I'm sure that reading the news every day is part of their routine. They want to know what is going on in the world. Whether it is by watching tv news, or reading an actual newspaper, or surfing the web, they need to get their fix. My source of choice for news when I am keeping up on it is the NY Times.

However, I often have strong impulses telling me that reading the news gives me a false sense of knowing what is going on in the world. I feel like there is an Orwellian precept about how if you put all your energy and passion into reading about what is happening elsewhere to other people, you are less likely to act passionately and actively yourself. Instead of going out into the world to see what is going to happen to yourself, you are content to read about others.

Maybe the reason I think this way is that I am always concerned about people's fire being stolen by the media. Let's take elections, for example. When the media on an election day does their straw poles to see who people are voting for, they use that to make a projection on who is going to win or lose. If you are a voter planning to vote in the afternoon, and you hear a radio report saying that it's pretty certain that your candidate of choice is either going to win or lose by a large margin, you might very well decide not to vote, feeling like at that point, your vote doesn't matter. Multiply that by however many listeners who haven't voted decide not to vote, and that could be enough votes lost to change the course of an election.

And we all know that media is not impartial - although when a particular media outlet is saying what we want to hear, we tend not to question who is making editorial decisions or what the outlet's agenda might be.

My attitude has always been that there is a vast amount of great stuff happening that will never make it to the news on any day of the year. And if I look around, I can see it happening, and maybe even participate in it. Would you like an example? Hmmm, let's see. A couple of summers ago I was riding the N train to Brooklyn. There was a group of about 6 young ladies who got on the train at Union Square and they were obviously tourists, speaking in what I gathered might be Portuguese. A couple of them had subway maps and were trying to line up what was on their maps with the stations they saw flying by as our express train headed downtown. There was a sense of unease and confusion among them.

I approached one of the ladies who seemed like she might know a little English. They had meant to get on the train going uptown, because they wanted to visit the Empire State Building. I explained to them that they were going the wrong way. But I also told them that the train would be coming out of the tunnel momentarily, and when we went over the Manhattan Bridge, they would have an excellent view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Had they heard of the Brooklyn Bridge? They had. As the train roared out of the tunnel over the bridge, the young ladies pressed their faces to the glass and took in the Brooklyn Bridge, joyfully exclaiming to each other. I gather that they had wanted to see the Brooklyn Bridge, but thought they wouldn't be able to fit it into their trip itinerary.

When the train arrived at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the young ladies headed to the uptown stop and back to the Empire State Building. I felt like I had done my good deed for the day, and in seeing the Brooklyn Bridge through their eyes a little bit, I got to see our city in a fresh way.