Having been inspired by a posting at Digby's Hullabaloo I wrote a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer about their selection of John Yoo as a contributor to their newspaper. Why a newspaper chose to give a man (a man who gave legal advice that justified torture) a column in their paper is something parrots with diarrhea will ponder for a time, no doubt. I sent my letter and was on to lesser and lesser things.
Ah, but the story continues: the Philadelphia Inquirer apparently selected my letter for publication, and this morning I heard Amy Goodman of Democracy Now read a quote from my letter, while also stating my real name (click on the video--her reading of a few quotes comes up quickly). Amy happened to be in Philadelphia, and the story was therefore timely on a local, as well as national level. It was amusing and a little bit surreal to hear one of my journalistic heroes both quote me and state my name, while at the same time a bit reassuring that my habit of snarking my way through the madness of our country can resonate with people who think about such things.
About my name: when I began blogging I chose Mortaljive as the site name because it combined death and silliness, the serious and the absurd, in a neat little package. I signed my work as "Jivestar" for a time, but that seemed too preening (and I'm too much of a narcissist to want to give that away so easily) and so began to sign my web page postings (and my comments) with "mjs" which stands for "mortaljivester" (not star). My real name, which I used for the above mentioned story (listing my location as Portland, Oregon) is Frank Thomas Armstrong--there are many Frank Armstrongs and so I used my full name to more clearly identify my authorship.
So, there you have it. You know my real name. And hopefully someone who read my letter in the Philadelphia Inquirer will respond to my sarcasm with an "aha" and become inspired to write their own letters. Very powerful people have done very bad things, and if we all shout our discontent they at the very least might just tremble.
Full link to the Democracy Now page is here.
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Ah, but the story continues: the Philadelphia Inquirer apparently selected my letter for publication, and this morning I heard Amy Goodman of Democracy Now read a quote from my letter, while also stating my real name (click on the video--her reading of a few quotes comes up quickly). Amy happened to be in Philadelphia, and the story was therefore timely on a local, as well as national level. It was amusing and a little bit surreal to hear one of my journalistic heroes both quote me and state my name, while at the same time a bit reassuring that my habit of snarking my way through the madness of our country can resonate with people who think about such things.
About my name: when I began blogging I chose Mortaljive as the site name because it combined death and silliness, the serious and the absurd, in a neat little package. I signed my work as "Jivestar" for a time, but that seemed too preening (and I'm too much of a narcissist to want to give that away so easily) and so began to sign my web page postings (and my comments) with "mjs" which stands for "mortaljivester" (not star). My real name, which I used for the above mentioned story (listing my location as Portland, Oregon) is Frank Thomas Armstrong--there are many Frank Armstrongs and so I used my full name to more clearly identify my authorship.
So, there you have it. You know my real name. And hopefully someone who read my letter in the Philadelphia Inquirer will respond to my sarcasm with an "aha" and become inspired to write their own letters. Very powerful people have done very bad things, and if we all shout our discontent they at the very least might just tremble.
Full link to the Democracy Now page is here.
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Comments
Well done. You deserve the recognition. More, really.
Also, "She Drove into the Flames" is great. I'd love to to musicafy it, inspiration and you permitting.
Also also, you and Donna are way invited to see the Warshers performing your songs (OK, and others) at some crappy bar (the A&L Tavern) on June 20th.
Peace bro,
Alan