First Post

Unabashed newbie here, so cut me some slack, alright? I've been viewing blogs for years now, but never felt the desire myself to post until recently, and then mostly because I grew fed up with much of the anonymous sniping that passes for intelligent discourse on the Internet.

For what it's worth, though...

I'm male, I work in a "creative" field, and I live in the Chicago area. I'm a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, which used to be called "Rockefeller Republican" but seems now to be called "Clinton Democrat", "Independent", or "UnAmerican", depending who you talk to. I have a graduate degree, but I don't use it to teach, despite the prodding of family members. I currently have a menagerie of house pets, though nothing particularly exotic. My dog wags his tail when I come home, and that's enough for me.

Something I guess you should know about me is that I see the world in shades of gray rather than simple black & white. I say that now because some people find it perplexing (even infuriating) when I weigh in on issues and they can't tell whose "side" I'm on. I'm not always "in the middle", but at the same time I'm astounded that so few people even recognize that there is a middle ground, especially when it comes to the volatile issues of politics, religion and sexuality.

I also mention it because I think that slapping a label on someone, while admittedly convenient, ultimately does them a disservice. I mean, I guess you could call me straight, a Christian, and a Democrat, but the fact of the matter is that I've never found a denomination that really served me well, I only consider myself 95% straight (allowing for the possibility, however remote, that I could actually be in a sexual situation with another male and not be turned off) and, well, you already know about my politics.

I guess that's all I have to say for starters. Flame away, if you like, but know that I tend to only respond to comments that appear to have more than 60 seconds worth of thought invested in them.

Cheers...