When I started this site, it was during the first few weeks of the Trump Regime. All hell was breaking loose (it still is, but more or less status quo at this point), and one of my primary goals was to serve as a resource for whatever means I could come up with to fight against it. Frankly, I also wanted to simply stand up and be counted as an opponent. I’ve always had an open mouth, and I felt it was important at this moment in history to put what might be my only true talent to good use.
Since then, Indivisible and other organizations have stepped it up big. There have been a series of national (and even international protests), with more planned. Beyond his infuriatingly resilient bubble of followers, Trump is deeply unpopular. But the Regime has also plunged ahead, with masked gangs grabbing people off the street, massive swaths of the government eliminated, science denial in full swing, and a Supreme Court that has exceeded even my very low expectations as a willing accomplice.
I still believe in the logic of my original theme; that many hands make light work, and if we all grab a sandbag we can stop even a mighty flood. But it seems to me that there’s now little value in a single, barely visible page that encourages “doing something…anything.” There are many, many opportunities to respond, both organized and spontaneous, and my wee bit of website is little more than a whistle in the wind. I’ve felt this way for a while, and aside from a large work project that was eating my time and brain, it’s one of the reasons I haven’t posted much.
That said, I still have much to say. I have thoughts and observations about not just politics but the general direction of the culture…some are positive and some are horrifying, at least to me. I’m not dropping politics, but I’d like to broaden the focus to include those brain storms and maybe even an occasional piece on things I find much more meaningful, like humans, the arts, and science.
So I’ve renamed the site. It is now The Pnyx. For those who don’t know the word, the Pnyx is the hill in Athens upon which the Athenian assembly would gather to vote and argue the issues of the day. It is in some very functional ways the literal birthplace of democracy…a word that was made up by the enemies of Athens to describe the cockamamie political system the Athenians had adopted.
The Pnyx is emblematic of the concept that today’s whackass idea is tomorrow’s genius. Never give up, never surrender, and keep your mind open wide enough to let a breeze flow through once in a while. You might find it refreshing.
More to come.
Gotcha 👍🏻