This is a keen idea. Via the wonderful Watermark via the fabulous Fetch Me My Axe (soon to be added to the blogroll) it’s an Introduce Yourself post, where readers of this blog can reveal a little something about themselves in the comments.
As SB put it: Consider this an invitation to introduce yourselves, to me and to each other. If you have a website or a blog, point us to it.
Whatever you want to talk about — go right ahead. This isn’t a formal type deal. There aren’t any tests or pop quizzes and you won’t be graded on your responses.
Another thing this isn’t is data mining, or link harvesting, or anything having to do with commerce. It’s just conversation. Blurt out whatever comes to mind; I know it’s gonna be fascinating.
SB and belledame222 came up with some great get-the-ball -rolling questions, a couple of which I’ll borrow, and add a question of my own. Don’t answer if you don’t feel like it; they’re just a way to break the ice and prime the pump.
*What kind of politics/worldview did your parentals/primary caregivers have? To what degree do you share that worldview/those politics? What else shaped your current worldview, and (more or less), what is that?
* What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
*Have you reconsidered an opinion or political stance that you held earlier in your life? If so, what triggered the change?
I’ll answer these questions myself as we get rolling, and I’ll leave this post up at the top of the page for a while and then put a link to it over in the sidebar.
This is your chance to expound, rant or reminisce. Have at it, folks.
(Flounder) Oh boy is this great! (/Flounder)
“What kind of politics/worldview did your parentals/primary caregivers have? To what degree do you share that worldview/those politics? What else shaped your current worldview, and (more or less), what is that?”
Both of my parents were on the Attorney General’s list in the early sixties, albeit for innocuous activities like membership in the Oberlin Y. Unabashed liberals, with a strong social justice bent. I was raised in what one talk show host called “the independent republic of Cleveland Heights”, an integrated, liberal inner-ring suburb with a lot of politically active folks (Hart and Jackson campaign managers in 1984 were both from Cleveland Heights). I’m active in the community but not in politics (the only Minnesota politician ever to get cash or endorsement from me was Paul Wellstone). I’m far more libertarian than my parents; having seen up close how little the government can do about some problems, I’d rather have government do nothing at all.
* What do you do that you consider creative? Is it easy, or difficult for you?
I’m a statistician; I help people work with data and numbers. There’s a lot of creativity in formulating ways to communicate the work that I do to folks who are less numerate. I consider myself just as creative as my baby brother, just less visibly so.
Hi Tild, nice to meet you. My parents were wild children who eventually ended up with 9 marriages between them. My mom was apolitical, but she gave me a healthy hatred for authority. When I was about 4 my bestdad sat me down and gave me the drill in case I get lost and a stranger finds me–tell them your name, address, telephone number, and that you’re a democrat. He made me say it til I got it right–dem-o-crat.
I met my real dad in my thirties, and found he was a union man, active in liberal politics, prison reform and a clean and sober drug abuse counselor for the Minnesota Vikings. That’s my cup of tea right down the line, we instantly clicked.
*What kind of politics/worldview did your parentals/primary caregivers have? To what degree do you share that worldview/those politics? What else shaped your current worldview, and (more or less), what is that?
Red diaper baby. My Grandad was a Wob who marched with Mother Jones. My Dad was an organizer for the United Mine Workers.
I was a grunt in the civil rights and the anti-war movements during the 60′s and have been active in the environmental and co-operative movements ever since.
I am a bit more of centrist than my folks in that I can occasionaly be persuaded that governments can do the right thing. (EPA, Afghanistan, universal health care and education). But in general I have never met a corporation that I trust or a politician that doesn’t seem to have a price.
I own a used bookstore in large part because it’s the highest impact recycling business I could think of. And it allows me to be politically active in the business world, a part of the community where leftist activism is in short supply.
(I love that icon, BTW.)
Union dad who worked for the State of Minnesota in various capacities for many years; mom who worked in the pink-collar ghetto training in the guys who would be promoted over her, though she finally got a reward of sorts after she retired: thanks to a legal ruling, Mom’s pension tripled overnight, to the point where it equaled her salary at its peak.
Me, I’m just rubbing along, doing what I can, when I can, because I’d explode if I didn’t.