Welcome to the Blog of Light. This is the first entry.

I used to think that a personal journal was kept for the benefit of its writer, intended as a personal catharsis. I have since learned that this is not true. When we write in a journal, we do so for our family members, and for future generations. This is something I learned at my brother’s funeral.

A blog is not a journal.

A blog is a ridiculously temporary, volatile, and intangible blip on the time line of a life’s history. If God commanded the prophets to engrave their words in gold and brass, then it is only fitting that we fools record our writings in corruptible magnetic patterns laid across fragile hard drive platters.

I remember sophomore English class with Mr. Loss back at Richland High School in the 1988-1989 school year. The first few minutes of every class were spent writing in a journal notebook. Assigned topic, or free write, we were tasked with filling a page in under ten minutes. Most days I used very large handwriting and very wide margins in order to fill my page. This, of course, was contrary to the spirit of the assignment. The purpose of the free writes is and was to practice writing, to draw out ideas from ourselves, and force ourselves to think through an idea.

For me, the web log is the new free write.

I cherish that old high school notebook full of free writes. They are absurd, hilarious, and occasionally smart. I may be the only one who thinks so, and that’s all right. I recognize that aside from Mr. Loss, I am the intended audience.