Purging the Past
Published October 3rd, 2011 | 
Do you keep a journal? I used to. From the age about 10 until I was about 22, I kept a regular journal. I briefly picked up the habit again at 29 and at 39. In general, I think it’s a good idea to journal regularly. I also think it’s a good idea to shred, burn or otherwise trash these writings every so often. It’s healthy to do so. Yes, by all means, publish your journals if any portion of these writings are publishable, but purge those unexpurgated entries every ten years or so. It’s as cathartic as the writing of those journals. It’s equal parts fascinating and embarrassing to read about your past. It’s also liberating to metaphorically destroy that past. It’s like shedding one’s skin. Dominie Browning writes on this very subject in a piece entitled “Burning the Diaries” in the NY Times:
I JUST burned 40 years’ worth of diaries. I didn’t plan to — or rather, I had always planned to, once I knew I was dying, or so old that I would soon lack the energy to gather wood. But I woke one morning and knew it was time to let it all go…
I started keeping journals when I was 14. I was compulsive about it. I scribbled daily and as I went through college, I filled hundreds of pages with dense, colorful ink, going right to the edge, ignoring the light threads of red margin markers, denying paragraphs their breaks, my nib flattening under the pressure of the stream of soul pouring forth. A psychiatrist once told me that I was obviously trying to psychoanalyze myself, which, professionally speaking, is considered impossible. But there certainly was and has always been a form of therapy in keeping journals. It is a way of self-soothing, as an adult, a way of rubbing the satin corner of your blankie against your finger when youre anxious about separation, or too worked up to fall asleep.
… I wrote about the bad boyfriends, the mean girls, the lying and cheating knaves I loved. I wrote about the wrenching pain of postpartum depression, the confusion and fear of becoming a mother, when I didnt have a clue how to do that gracefully, kindly, compassionately; I mulled over the unalloyed sadness of a dying marriage and the pure misery of mourning the passing of a hope that, before it fled, sowed the seeds of two beautiful boys. Certainly not the sort of detritus I wanted those boys to sift through if I died before I woke….
* This post is brought to you courtesy of cary cleaning services.
The Curious Case of Casey Anthony
Published July 6th, 2011 | With regards to yesterday’s verdict in the Casey Anthony trial, I must admit two things:
I was somewhat surprised by the verdict and secondly, (although I am sure I am alone here) I had a new respect for our legal system. Not because I believed that Casey Anthony is innocent, but because we do have a system in which any defendant, no matter how horrific the crime has the presumption of innocence. Ask poor Amanda Knox what she thinks of our legal system after dealing with the Italy’s courts.
Last week, at the gym, a friend of mine, who was of the opinion that Casey “should fry” asked my opinion. I asked him if he was asking me whether I thought she was guilty or whether she would be found guilty.
“What’s the difference?” he replied.
Well…. for one thing, I was not a juror in the case. My opinion about her guilt or innocence doesn’t make a damn bit of difference. For another, despite what nitwits like Nancy Grace might believe, shouting angrily over the airwaves about someone’s guilt doesn’t make that person guilty of a crime in a country where everyone is entitled by law to a presumption of innocence.
I made the point that, though I thought she was probably guilty of the crime, there was plenty of reasonable doubt to allow for the possibility of a not guilty verdict.
My friend was outraged by even the suggestion that she might get off. Think about it, I told him. Setting emotion aside, what has the prosecution actually proven in this case? They proved that Casey Anthony is a liar and a kook. They proved that Callie Anthony is dead. That is it, really. There was no cause of death. No time of death. No forensic evidence which directly connected Casey Anthony with the little girl’s death. Unfortunately, being a liar and a kook does not automatically make you guilty of murder. How does a rational person send a young woman to her death based on that? Short of having Casey Anthony’s DNA on the body and a map with Embossed Graphics shout, “This is how Casey Anthony did it and when,” no reasonable juror could have given her the death penalty. So I think it’s unfair to demonize the jury for doing the job they were called to do. The prosecution was asking the jury to do two things: assume that lying about a crime is the same thing as committing that crime and encouraging jurors to make up a narrative of guilt which allows the evidence to prove what it did not actually prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
So Casey Anthony, now that you’ve most likely gotten away with murdering your own child, what are you going to do now? Can you handle being the most hated woman in America?
Wikileaks
Published December 8th, 2010 | Maybe I should care more about Julian Assange and his Wikileaks site, but I really don’t. I would probably be on his side in this (being the lover of free speech that I am) were it not for the ridiculousness of the hype surrounding his case. On one hand, the “outrage” from the government is so over-the-top, especially since representatives have all but admitted that the documents released don’t really contain information that truly threatens national security. I also am amused by the mainstream media’s branding this clown as a cyber-terrorist for an act that is hardly more than a juvenile prank. It’s also ironic being as how the media is supposed to be in favor of free speech.
Lastly, I am amused when I hear Assange’s lawyer on TV calling the man a “journalist”. This guy is a small, egocentric man-child looking for attention he doesn’t merit. I repeat, he’s a clown! He’s not some criminal mastermind hiding out in a secret lair with endless resources and rows upon row of rackmount servers storing all the world’s dirty secrets with an private army of henchmen. Unless his stronger than he looks, I don’t even believe he could rape anybody. Have you seen this guy? Any woman could kick his ass.
