Finally On This Thing ...

This would be my Maiden Post.
This is only a test.
A friend dragged me over here, kicking and screaming, to help with his blog, and I decided to start my own, to figure out how all of this works.

I have always been far more comfortable with mailing lists (listservs) than blogs. I enjoy being part of a collective discussion; I like to have conversations, not just deliver monologues.

I really don't enjoy blathering on about myself. OK, OK. I do enjoy it, but more in the context of responding or reacting to something someone else says, not just squirting out "The Deathless Thoughts of Mary Withers".

But I have a few topics I like to sound off about: politics (I hate Bush/Cheney ... let's just get that out of the way); medical cannabis legalization; sane harm-reduction policies for recreational drugs, including tobacco and alcohol; cats (I didn't used to be obsessed with cats -- I liked them, and usually had one, but I wasn't a psycho advocate or feral-feeder -- but a feral colony has been thrust upon me, so ... this is apparently my post-retirement career now); opposition to religious extremism of all kinds; advocacy for freedom of all kinds (including some personally risky kinds, as long as they don't harm non-participants); advocacy for folks who like to go dancing on public lands; and advocacy for families of suicides and victims of post-combat PTSD and their families.

Here is my chief inspiration for most of these projects. RIP, kid. You were a glorious, quirky, fascinating, energetic, wonderful young man, and you deserved so much better than you ever got. I want to do my part, even in small ways, to leave this world better than either you or I ever found it. I hope to help it someday be worthy of spirits like yours.