Meta-Blogging

Gonna self-indulge here for a minute:

I took some time off after writing the Chris Cerf piece for a few reasons:

- That whole piece burned me out.

- The computer died - again. And it just made a very strange noise...

- I've been working on some music, and that takes a lot of time and focus. I'm really having a hard time doing both simultaneously - maybe I can't. We'll see.

- Honestly, this past week was very, very disheartening. Things are not getting better for teachers. I'm not sure some of the damage this guy has wreaked can be fixed soon after he's out of office - I think we'll be cleaning up his mess for a ling time to come.

Further, like Obama dealing with Bush's train wreck, it's not just trying to rebuild after years of incompetence. It's not even about trying to slow down the carnage.

It's also about having to deal with a politics and national conversation that has become nutty, uncivil, and just plain stupid. We have allowed ridiculous notions to penetrate our national and state dialogues, and we are giving credence to both people and ideas that simply should not be part of a rational conversation about the problems we face.

At the national level, Bush has left us a world where even the DEMOCRATIC president says we can't possibly raise taxes or go into further debt to deal with our economic mess. We can't even DISCUSS the idea. Meanwhile, Republicans go on TV and say with straight faces that cutting taxes raises revenues.

At the state level, we are prepared to destroy our schools - the crown jewels of this state - without even discussing the possibility of raising taxes on the wealthy. And our Governor pushes "solutions" that don't even address the root causes of our problems.

It's bizarre, and, at times, depressing. And let's face it - blogging is mostly preaching to the choir. Is it helpful? I don't know - maybe. I hope it is.

Because, until the next election, I'm not sure what else to do.