Welcome to LaurenceJarvikOnline. This is where you'll find the usual blog self-indulgence, hobby-horse riding, and instant reactions. So if that turns you off, as it does many people, please feel free to click to from whence you came.
For those who remain...
What I hope will be a little different in this site is the orientation. I spent last year living in Uzbekistan, and on returning to the USA was a little surprised by how shrill everything seemed. Granted that I had been living in an authoritarian state, but the over-politicization of almost everything in the land of the free seemed a little ridiculous. There were such sharp divisions between the "Red" and "Blue" America that almost every topic was seen in partisan terms. Frankly, it was disappointing. There didn't seem to be much but Bush-Bashing or Bush-Cheerleading to choose from.
And everyone seemed to have gone off the deep end. No one appeared to want to be part of what used to be called "the vital center."
Where had all the centrists gone? Long time passing...
So, after stewing in a funk for a while, I said, what the heck, I'll join the pool party and start a blog of my own. The idea, at least for now, is to try and be a little bit thoughtful. I hope the undertow doesn't pull too strongly, that this doesn't degenerate into something shrill or partisan. And to offer some thoughtful bits and pieces from reasonable perspectives on anything that crosses my mind, with the customary links to different other sites, blogs and posts.
So we'll see. This won't be as big a deal as Instapundit.com, or AndrewSullivan.com, or ArtsJournal.com or MobyLives.com, or Lileks.com, or AlaindeBotton.com. But in a small way, I'll try and carve out a little bit of web room for thoughtful, reasonable, and interesting items that others might miss, and bring them to attention when I can.
And put in my two cents, every once in a while, for what it's worth.
