Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Last time I went down

Last time I went down to LA I sat next to a guy about my age (late 30s) who was dressed to impress - nice summer suit, expensive haircut, tidy cuticles… I was a bit more shlumpy but projected my aura of intellectualism to start a conversation.  Actually, I asked to check an article in his NYT Sunday magazine in which Bill Safire granted “blog” status as an actual word.  That got us talking generally about what I post and why.  I told him I used my blog to rant, to share, to work out verbal problems or games, to write things I wanted to remember, to memorialize… and as an outlet for my creative writing. He told me that he had been in Governor Wilson’s cabinet during the last state administration (I didn’t ask, didn’t want to know, what he’d been in charge of); now he’s a consultant for private organizations that need governmental support or assistance.  He was clearly articulate and smart, but he told me he’d never written poetry, never written creatively just for the pleasure of knitting words and ideas into a new garment.  I was not sure whether he’d accomplished more than I’d ever do in my life, or if he’d never do as much in his life as I do in a day spent creatively.  It sure encouraged me to write more though…