the information highway onramp

When I'm out with friends, I often get into conversations about politics, conversations that dawdle and wane and meander - don't we all? - and I want so badly to have on-hand a whole stockpile of information to draw on. Of course, the only way to get to that blissfully drunken, pontificating place I'd like to be at with any grace is to spend some time doing a little research before hitting the bars. The place I start is publicly funded and over-flowing with good info: www.speakout.com. (Did you know that there were no general election presidential debates between 1960 and 1976?) I've also taken to pouring through candidates individual "issues" pages to see exactly what the candidates are promoting on their own pages. For example, consider the contrast between Clinton, Obama, and Edwards on healthcare. The differences are remarkable, namely the amount of information provided. My head is still with Edwards. Now, please excuse me while I go do some more reading to figure out how to tell you why.

footnote: #7 the speakout foundation is just fucking brilliant. the three presidential websites of #8 Clinton, #9 Obama, and #10 Ewards are pivotal for any voting democrat and yet is too short a list to be comprehensive/exhaustive most certainly.

Word

I have spent a lot of time in Baton Rouge thinking about how people communicate with each other, maybe even more specifically how they speak to or with each other. When I was in the graduate program at LSU I started a newsletter called the Underground Third hoping to help the English graduate students of all people talk to each other more about what was going on in their lives. It worked to a degree - I mean, I think the newsletter sparked some fun conversations, but it rarely catapulted people into meaningful discussions. I like to think that's why the dang thing didn't last after I left; it never dug in deep enough to get people to care about it beyond a good laugh. I've since tried to write for a couple of different publications in Baton Rouge, and have become a crazy blogaholic, it seems. But I'm hoping that this newest endeavor birthed by an amazing lady will take hold of the whole of Baton Rouge in a big-ass, bad-ass super delicious way. Sweet Tooth is after all a chance to critique, to hold art to a standard. Who does that?! Well, we all do - and now we all have a platform for that conversation.

Random big ups to my favorite events calendar in Baton Rouge thus far - I love you CHERRY!

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Footnote: Here are references #4, #5, #6 - all journalistic, artsy bits of goodness (one in perhaps permanent hibernation - boo) that will ever have a soft spot in my Baton Rouge heart.