Braaaaiiiinnnnssss

This is going to be pretty random. It will serve an important function because I need to take a break from writing about writing the comic, maybe to actually get it done or something, and I find my desire to write about politics is becoming stronger.

It actually works together though. Where I was getting stuck on writing about writing was trying to explain how the writing helps with clarity and happiness—how much there is inside the writing. I had several stories, and also there was a recent article about how teaching writing has been neglected in schools, but is really important and is starting to become a point of emphasis again.

The article drew some interesting comments including one about how they can only maybe get most of the kids to be good writers, because very few people can be great writers. I think they were missing the point on multiple levels, but one of those points was being missed in a way that is pessimistic about human potential.

I saw something opposite going on last night with President Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. He gave details, he explained things, and people ate it up! They loved it! Sure there are people who are complaining that the speech was too long, but there seem to be more people who thought that was just fine.

Personally, I was surprised to see some of the reaction to certain points that he made, because they are things that I thought would be well-known among the politically active, and if you are attending a political convention you probably are active, but maybe it was just nice to hear, or they were thinking about people watching at home, or they had missed some things. There’s a lot of information out there right now. It would be easy to miss some.

The point is, in a time that is characterized by the misleading blurb, it was nice to see details not only given, but appreciated. The RNC was built around a line taken out of context, and it was easy to do because a complex statement was being made, and there is this idea that only sound bites matter. Wrong. You may need to change your approach, and you certainly need to pick when to go for detail and when to short and sweet, but people don’t have to be dumb and that may be the most hopeful thing out of last night for me.

(I realize I am asking the universe to flood me with stupidity now, but I’m just going to take this moment.)

Actually, for me, that was not the most amazing thing to me about President Clinton’s speech. Julie and Maria and I were out running errands, so we came home and found Mom watching it, and she turned to me and said “I think I want to register Democrat.”

Until recently, I was the only registered Democrat in the household. (Maria recently had to redo her registration after a signature question from one ballot, so she changed it then.) Everyone else has been voting pretty liberal, but they had never bothered changing their registrations, and I was the only person in the family who started out as a Democrat. (Always the rebel.) Mom usually votes with us, but then she feels guilty about it. I think she crossed some sort of internal barrier last night. Thank you President Clinton.

For now, as long as we are being random, I want to get back to that zombie dream. I was telling a friend about it, and she was surprised because she knows about my aversion to zombies and wondered if there was some self-loathing going on. I didn’t think so.

What happened was a bunch of zombies (mostly familiar faces, including me) were confined in this basement. We were still pretty self-aware and undecayed, but probably were going to be losing that. There was food, and some were getting really into the squishiness of the food, where you could see how a transition to brains would come easily to them. One of the other zombies attacked me (wanting to eat my brains), and I fended her off by choking, but it was clear to me that things were just going to get worse in there, so I seem to have led an escape.

In the parking lot, everyone was wandering off to try and lay low and blend so we could stay free, and it was here where I felt my knee become disjointed, which felt really gross. (For zombies, “walk it off” has a whole different meaning.) Anyway, some zombie guy with long blond hair was apparently stealing a motorcycle to get away, and he called after me and advised that if I wanted to stay inconspicuous I better not smoke or drink, because I would never be able to pull off those behaviors. I’m not saying he didn’t have a point, but really what he wanted was to team up, and that’s pretty much where it ended, though I believe I was going to go with him. For one thing, motorcycle!

Looking back at the dream, besides relief to have all components of my knee joint fully functional and in place, there is concern that I might have done the wrong thing. If we really were going to be deteriorating more, and start with the brain-eating, then for the good of society we probably should have stayed confined. Right there, though, that thought involves some rationality and altruism that is unlikely from someone turning into a zombie. Clearly I can’t be trusted in a zombie apocalypse, but who can?

I guess there is really just one overriding thought for the entire post: A mind is a terrible thing to waste.