Today I spent two and a half hours reading Freud's "First Essay on Sexuality: Sexual Aberrations," a 2 1/2-hour jaunt through neuroses and kinks which actually says a lot about how social ideologies shape our minds and explained why I have the perversions I do, at least it made sense to me. Came home, had a heart-to-heart with my wonderful mother, sat down to read Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians (and trust me, you'll be hearing about this SOON),., but decided to chekc the old e-mail before enjoying some more pinot noir and Bloomsbury fun.
Usually I like to see what Yahoo's top ten searches of the day are, and today revealed a name I hadn't seen in a long time...Fran Tarkenton. Hall of Famer who led the Vikings to three NFC titles, host of Real People which is partially responsible for the decrepitude of almost everything on network television today, and now owner of six businesses in Atlanta. Turns out Tarkenton is ticked off about Brett Favre's second un-retirement (put those words together and you'll understand why I'm ticked off, too) and that was making the rounds out of ESPN, but I want to get back to the six businesses in Atlanta. I know that because Fran (and I can call him "Fran" because we are in the brotherhood) wrote about it on his blog.
That's right, Fran Tarkenton has a blog! It's called Moving Forward With Fran Tarkenton and will be found at http://www.frantarkenton.com/. And I just wanted to write about this today because it really and truly gave me pause for a moment (like the article I read in The Economist this morning about how in some states you can have sex with someone under the age of consent but with their permission, later marry them, and STILL be on the books as an offender). When I was born, there was absolutely no way in hell that I might ever have some equal footing in the public world with someone like Fran Tarkenton. An ordinary son of two hard-working educators I still think are better than 99.999% of the species has some things to say, but will they matter as much as what Fran Tarkenton would have to say about something? But, and this may be the biggest reason I can support technological advancement while keeping my luddite tendencies, we are now at a point where communications have democratized the world, where evryone has a chance, no matter how profound or inane, to have their voice heard by anyone who takes the time to listen. It means the Iranis can Twitter and link their way to non-violent protest writ large. And it means both Fran Tarkenton and I have equal access to our opinions.
By the way, Fran Tarkenton write about Brett Favre on his blog, but that was posted back in May. In fact, that was his first post of the year! He has a grand total of THREE posts thus far in 2009, the other two supporting LeBron James and Michael Vick over some questionable acts of theirs...I guess running six businesses leaves you little time to write a blog. But he has one, and he wororks on it, and I work on mine, and people can read our opinions for what they're worth, and that's what matters.
And I HATE Viewpoint. I have enough of a hassle with the Internet. Why do I need little screens showing websites I have no interest in visiting popping up every time I click on a link?
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