The first year of Just Thinking columns:
03/10/03
Just Thinking About My Column
I’m half joking when I say that I gave up despair for Lent. By the half that isn’t joking, I mean that I intend to transform moments of doubt and diminished hope into reminders of what I believe — that I believe. Obviously, this is primarily a matter of spirituality. On a practical level, however, one way of looking at it is that I was riding high with hope and confidence about a month ago, and there is no reason that the same should not be true a month from now. Part of maintaining hope — and faith — is in seeing the ebbs for what they are.
Still, this doesn’t mean it’s always easy, and I’m certainly in an ebb. I’m not going to list all the little things that have nicked away at my drive; that would be whining. Suffice to say that the centerpiece is the utter absence of interest in my Just Thinking book, even among friends and other people who are generally supportive. Considering that Dust in the Light, my blog, covers most of the ground for which I began Just Thinking, the annual book (and the more-formal essay construction that it encouraged) had become the only reason, really, to continue with the weekly effort of a column.
This is a roundabout way of saying that I’m considering ending the column, at least as a feature with a weekly deadline. At this moment, I’m only taking this week off from writing it, to allow for the possibility that I’m merely in a funk. However, barring revelation or a major boost of some sort, I think I’ll change my “Weekly Column” to a “Periodic Column,” which I’ll write when inspiration strikes or when something in the blog seems to deserve more permanence. (Note: At this time, I plan to maintain the email list of those who've subscribed and send the columns as they're written.)
03/03/03 Questions to Questions, Faith to Faith (Religion)
02/24/03 Take Out (Fiction)
02/17/03 I Sometimes Need Reminding (Life)
02/10/03 Meetings on the Road, V: Imbalance of Power (Poetry)
02/03/03 What Is in Space and What We’re Told Isn’t (Society)
01/27/03 Is There Meaning When the Curtain Closes? (Religion)
01/20/03 Sex and the Whoa Moment (Society)
01/13/03 A New Chance for a Memory (Society)
01/06/03 Just a Weekend Conversation (Art)
12/30/02 The Ballad of Lott (Poetry)
Archives back to 10/29/01