More about "I for an I"

I. Eye. Eyeing. I-ing.

The act of writing, for me, is the act of I-ing, of asserting myself and crystallizing my thoughts, of responding to Hillel's question: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" I realize he goes on to ask, "If I am only for myself, what am I?" and finally, "If not now, when?". My intention and hope is to write in such a way that it will not be just about me, but affect and touch others, even if for a brief moment.

Writing also helps me to process feelings and digest experiences. For example, we've all experienced rage, either on the road or in our relationships (and sometimes both at once!), yet many of us were conditioned to suppress these powerful emotions, rather than taught how to express them productively or safely. So my blog title also references Hammurabi's "Eye for an Eye", which for us can evoke barbaric revenge and speak to some of our more primal urges. But from the perspective of that time, Hammurabi's Code was a call for restraint; the idea of limiting punishment to fit the crime was, in fact, rather progressive. While I don't intend to restrain my writing, I will try to entertain a variety of perspectives. I do reserve the right to rant on occasion, the literary equivalent of going for the jugular, or the eyeball, in this case.

Finally, I will also have some fun with the letter "I", which I've articulated countless times when spelling my name over the telephone to customer service and quality assurance representatives...."I as in Ice Cream"..."I as in Igloo"...etc. If you have a word or phrase that begins with "I" that you want me to write about, leave a comment on the blog. I'll be delighted to take you up on the challenge.

Thanks for reading.