A man walks into a bar.  Wait, no.  A man starts a blog, and…

Writing a blog (which I’ve done before, and it was all good fun) is a funny thing.  By putting words out there, you’re asking to turn those lights on top of your head (you know, the ones that put a spotlight onto an audience) onto yourself.  There’s a fine line between self-aggrandizing and pure emoting.  I’d like to avoid both of those spheres.  We’ll see how that goes.

We make our own lines and intersections.

The title of this blog comes from a Pearl Jam song, “Man of the Hour”.  The full verse is as follows: “tidal waves don’t beg forgiveness/crashed, and on they break.”

That line has resonated with me for many years.  It has a sense of inevitability with a promise of hope in the swirl of turbulence that sweeps its way around all of  us.

My main focus here will be to create a space for my own writing (both poetry, fiction, and nonfiction) that encourages community feedback and also engages others who are interested in sharing work.  This doesn’t mean this will be a pure “writing-driven” blog but it absolutely won’t be a space that I use to spout off about myself.  There will also be a focus here on other passions of mine, most notably advocacy for individuals dealing with mental health conditions as well as the occasional musings about sports and politics.

I’d like to keep pop culture references to a minimum but I’m not fooling myself.  They will be there.

Some might notice the handle “J. Swaingrass” is back.  In a previous venture, he had a lot of good things to say.  For those strange few out there who have requested a return, well, here you go.

In any case, thanks for reading.  As the good Dr. Hunter S. Thompson said, “Res ipsa loquitur.”  Let the good times ROLL.

–J.Swaingrass.