I'm Baaaaack???

I hope this is the re-beginning of some sort of more regular posting behavior. There's no fantastical story behind my hiatus. The end of 2007 introduced personal and professional upheaval and blogging fell by the wayside. I don't know about you, but for me, it's really easy to fall into a pattern of not doing something once I stop doing it, especially when the not doing is accompanied by major depressive episodes and other various neuro-chemical imbalances -- oh, and by living somewhere where legions of both the powerful (i.e., politicians) and the common-folk (i.e., the seemingly omnipresent segment of local folks hell bent on showing their ass and lauding their ignorance) make me just want to say: "fuck it. Whatever it is; just fuck it."

I know I'm about 3 weeks behind the curve in terms of acknowledging the sudden, heartwrenching passing of local blogger Dr. Ashley Morris. What can I say that hasn't been said already? I talked to him twice in person and many times via email or blog comments, but it only took those couple of personal encounters -- and our shared trauma of living in Chicago immediately post-K -- to endear me to the guy to such a point that hearing the news sent me into a state of grief stricken shock. New Orleans has truly lost one of our strongest links in the chain keeping this battered boat anchored and afloat. In some strange way, I feel that jumpstarting this operation back up would honor Ashley in some small way. I almost feel as if I owe it to him.

Now, Ashley might rightly assert that I don't owe him shit, which is also true; but this tragedy was a bitter reminder that I may not have much time for spinning my wheels or sitting on the sideline thinking I can put whatever off just a couple of more days; or that it's no big deal to pass on staying involved in my community.