Last Thursday, I had decided to restore an old blog habit. With Sunday's post, I had made a promise to commit myself to this task. So, here I am, attempting to follow through with it.
Unfortunately, last night was rough, as in, I think I managed three full hours of sleep. Today was busy, as in lots of house cleaning and running of errands. This evening was long, as in an hour-and-a-half of driving, and two hours of reading and walking while waiting for my daughter to finish her dance classes.
Yet, somehow I found an hour to draft a long blog post. It began as a Weekly Checkup, but evolved into something more complex. I am keeping it for Sunday. Since I am running out of energy, but I still want to produce something, I came up with the link below.
So, here we go, another Weekly Checkup (future ones will be more extensive, I promise).
(I drew that!)
Over a decade ago, I was following a blogger who had converted from liberalism to conservativism. She wrote a lot about art and literature, but also politics. In the beginning, she presented rational assessments of current events. However, as the Obama presidency waxed then waned, her reasonable observations veered toward conspiracy theories and ideological talking points.
It is not worth linking to her work.
Yet, she imparted a bit of knowledge for which I am grateful: the blog of an influential liberal intellectual (one of the few she could bring herself to admire--I doubt he would admire her current diatribes). The man was Norman Geras. He has since passed. I remember clearly the post his family made, indicating that they would keep his blog up. I am embarrassed to admit that, until a week ago, I was not aware of his status in academia, despite having followed his blog for so many years.
It turns out that he was famous in certain circles.
And I regret to say, after he died in October of 2013, I did not return to his blog, despite having read perhaps an eighth of what he had posted. Time went on. While I never forgot his blog, his name had faded from my memory. Except for some letters. Eight years later, when I began to blog again, my mind drifted back to his blog and its format. Namely, the interviews, book lists, and commentary. But only "norm" remained in my consciousness. At one point, I visited that disappointing blogger mentioned above. The insanity was too much, though. So, I went back to Google.
And a week ago, I found him. The discovery filled me with joy and relief. (And a chuckle when I learned of his pedigree.)
So, I now share his blog with you.
Many of the social and political references will be dated. And a lot of the political discussions, a little too theoretical at times. Yet, those interviews are still valuable, while some of his observations remain relevant.
In the end, his sought to make the world a better place while he tried to understand it.
I hope my blogging does the same.
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