Hiatus

Dear fearless reader,

I want to apologize for being remiss in my updates. I assume that the legions of readers I once had have dwindled since I more or less went on unannounced hiatus. Unfortunately, I know not when I will be back in true form, if ever. This indefinite pause in my online life is a result of a number of factors - both personal and intellectual, and as usual, there's a connection between the two.

On the intellectual side, I think I've become even more of a Luddite, in the actual original sense, rather than the contemporary misappropriation sense. While the term is casually tossed around to mean somebody opposed to the modern or the future - somebody hidebound, somebody stuck in their ways, tradition for tradition's sake and conservative in outlook, I use the term in its revolutionary sense, for the Luddites were people who recognized that the introduction of machine was a direct attack on the community, a direct attack on the value of human endeavor, an attempt at control. In other words, I've decided that the relationship I have with you, fearless reader, is one mediated by a screen, which creates distance, while giving us a false sense of immediacy. As a society we've somehow come to believe that Facebook can replace face-to-face conversation. That blogs can replace actually getting to know each other as real, flesh-and-blood human beings. On that note - if you want to get together, call me. Or email me. Let's do lunch - it'll taste better, anyway.

On the other note, it turns out that there has been a radical shift in my own personal life that has caused me to pause and take stock. It's one of those events that will probably keep me thinking, and reflecting, and attempting to understand, and otherwise feeling like I have no clue as to the answers and therefore nothing to share for the next 18 years. Some big questions have been raised about life and soul and society and community and how to relate to one-another, and I don't see any path towards answers to those questions on the horizon. If I come up with anything, perhaps I'll pop back in here, but I wouldn't count on it if I were you.

So, to those of you left - who've had faith that I might actually have something to say, but was just too lazy, thanks, but you may go about your business. Nothing to see here, for the foreseeable future.