Life and Times of the Ambitious and Visionary

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I haven't posted here in ages and I started this community. Maybe we ought to reignite this place by simply try to get everyone to introduce themselves again? Or maybe, just talk about one thing you are working on or want to do or something like that.

Or just say hi and let us know you're alive.

:)

Today, to my school came Bernadine Dohrn. She was the leader of the Weather Underground, the 1960s Communist group that planned to overthrow the government, set off bombs in the Pentagon and the US Capitol Building, and raised hell. The Dohrn of today is a different woman, calmer, less dogmatic and willing to engage in a dialogue. Our class questioned her, with me easily taking the lead role, and her answers were candid and worth reading, for sure. Here it is, my write-up of all that occurred.

I'm Greg Pratt, the Chief of the Office of the Independent Blogger. The headline of my site reads, "Independent in the same sense that Ken Starr was which means not very Independent indeed." For almost all of the time that I've had this website, since the Spring, that has been a sarcastic joke. Now, as we approach tomorrow's elections in Iraq, I have found myself to be Bipartisan by Iraq. Check it out and, in the meantime, here's two paragraphs that I'm quite proud of:

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If I were less capable of spelling, our current path on the matter of Iran would elicit just as much support as Iraq does from me but it doesn't. When you've caught fire in a chemist's lab, you don't stop drop and roll: you shower yourself in the corner of the room. It's the same with Iran. Give it a read through -- you'll never believe how ridiculous some Conservative ideas are for dealing with the Mullahs. Want a hint? "Leave the Nukes, Take Out The Mullahs." Brilliant, if only it would work.

Ever have the government ban smoking in your city? I have. And have you ever been bothered by your party's reaction to an article that may be fake? I have. Ever thought that the President was being less than candid? I have, and you can read about these things here. While we're talking about a political potpourri, there's Tookie Williams, who has now been executed, and here is Me on why he's Not Redeemed At All.

Surprisingly, for a Liberal, I am not a huge fan of the 9/11 Commission. I think they're as out of order as they claim our current security measures are. So is the Congress, the Pentagon and the Law Schools who have a Case before the SCOTUS. I consider myself a candid guy. I'm honest. There's just no two ways about it as I call things like I see them and keep an open mind. Here, I write about a lack of candor, and end on this note: "Candor, on a last note, is increasingly hard to come by and al-Qaeda has none to spare. Bin Laden’s top Deputy to America: “bin Laden still alive and in charge.” More like, “Either hiding like a scalded dog or dead in the mountains.”

On December Seventh, Republicans Pearl Harbored Al Gore, accusing him of having given Russia permission to sell Iran nuclear weapons. For a moment, let's ignore Cheney's lobbying on behalf of an end to sanctions on Iran in the 1990s and talk about "the case against Gore," or, as I like to call it, a failed and transparent attempt to slander him and his dead father. Saddam Hussein's trial, the Right's fear of a Fight over Alito, the War on Christmas! and Rick Santorum's claim that he's helped "save Social Security" are all discussed here.

There are rumors of Chief of Staff to the President Andrew Card being fired and sent to Treasury, with Rumsfeld resigning and Lieberman taking his place. All of this would be bad for the country and wrong politically, for all parties involved, and so here is me on White House Politics. You've all heard the expression that Truth is Stranger than Fiction, correct? Well, in today's Washington Truth is Stranger Than Gingrich. That's all I'll say about that for now.

On December Third, I attended a Hillary Clinton speech in Chicago and here's my writeup. There were protesters, too, and it was an interesting day. Interesting as this post about the poisoning of our political stream. I know it's not exactly an original thought, that one, but it's still worth commenting on and I'd be mighty glad if you checked it. Finally, let me direct you here. Enjoy!

I am the Independent Blogger of the Office of the Independent Blogger. Help me spread the word about my blog -- I think you'll all enjoy it and if you can help me I'd be right obliged.

Where are you from?
I'm Shannon. I live in Manchester, CT, but I consider myself to be "from" the California bay area.

What makes you a visionary/Why do you consider yourself one?
I have a lot of issues with self esteem, so I don't know that I often think of myself as a visionary, but I suppose I am one. I am an aspiring writer, poet, and artist. I have been using my creativity as a major emotional outlet and means of expression since I was a child, but I have only just now gotten up enough nerve to actually see if I can "do anything" with any of those talents. If you are curious what my work is like, I keep a gallery at Deviant Art, which can be seen here.

Anything else (within reason) you want to share.
I guess this is really more of a question for the members. I'm sure I'm not alone here, but I have terrible trouble being taken seriously as an artist by people that I know, either very well or just as acquaintances, and this can make it difficult for me to keep trying to get where I want to be. Everyone agrees that I'm talented, and everyone also knows that I sell prints of my work and expect commission fees for private projects or requests. However, these same people keep doing things like asking for group oil portraits of their families and expecting to not even have to reimburse me for the materials let alone pay a commission fee, or people from my Live Journal friends list will ask for a print, but want to pay me in Live Journal icons instead of actual money or something equally ridiculous. I know that they wouldn't dream of expecting something like that from an artist they actually took seriously. It honestly makes me feel like they consider my artwork to be nothing more than a hobby, and seem to feel that just my knowing they chose my art for their wall ought to be payment enough. Have any of you experienced anything similar, and if so, how did you handle it? Any tips, advice, or insight is appreciated.

I just joined the community and here is my introduction as requested.

I live in Exeter - an old city in the south of England.

I consider myself a visionary because I have MANY ideas on every law and draft circulating Westminster. Hopefully I will reside over it all one day in my ambition to become PM but I will settle for any position of representation in Parliament :) I guess I want to change the world on a big scale and be remembered for something good.

For me, there are obviously many. But if I could just choose one, I'd say, to be able to come up with something that will allow me to sustain myself even better than now, but also..allow me to advance my goals in other areas.

In other words, to tour teaching toccer and setting up the Viperball exhibition.

Ever had an idea or something you knew you'd do, but no one really took you seriously? Even those people who seemed to take you seriously, always had some sort of "challenge" for you, like "if you're gonna do [that thing], then what about this?"

If so, what did you do about it?

Last year, I was talking with my gf about what I wanted to do this year. I had a bunch of things, but they weren't traditional New Year's resolutions that typically go by the wayside in January.

These were more abstract. Basically, it was something along the lines of "I'm not sure what exactly will happen. But I'm tired of being one of those people who talks about making change, I want to actually do something about it."

Well, five months in and I've held myself to my goal.

So the question that I hope spurs some discussion is What goals did you set out to accomplish this year - no matter how small - that you've managed to make good on, or at least, make some progress towards?

If you didn't, want to share what got in the way? Are you struggling through it now?

I didn't realize that posting about this in academics anonymous would solicit some brief discussion about whether this was a porn community or something.

It was funny, if nothing else. Maybe that explains only a few people have posted on here.