Introducing Musings from a Northern Plains Drifter

Hello. Thank you for checking out this blog. As the sub-title suggests, the postings will be my personal thoughts on sociopolitical ideas that I cannot get out of my head. I find myself wanting to discuss these ideas with friends and colleagues a lot more than these same friends and colleagues are wont to do. Hence, this blog.

I live in a city on the Great Canadian Plains. This is the fourth Canadian city I have lived in, and other than a few short lived experiences out in the country, I have never called anywhere else but these four cities "home." My work often has me reflecting upon political matters in both Canada and the United States. From time to time I read about what is going on in other parts of the world, too, but I expect the vast majority of my musings will have a North American focus.

A few words about what I hope occurs here. I am a news junkie, especially pertaining to anything social, economic and political. Perhaps all of these areas may best be summed up with the umbrella phrase cultural studies & the media. Quite frequently, I find myself perplexed at hearing about something I consider to be major news, only to see it disappear from the mainstream media a day or two afterward. These are often topics that I want to bring back to the fore, at least for anybody interested in discussing them with me.

Sometimes my posts will be on topics that I feel have been glossed over entirely or not even mentioned. To me, this is a clear cut example of omission as a hegemonic device. Hence, this blog was created.

It could hardly have escaped the attention of anyone who has engaged in blogging or in posting comments on newspaper forums that there is a tendency to use harsh language among many posters. Sometimes this language crosses into the territory of the rude, crude, and ignorant. I am unsure if this is because of the anonymity that comes with this particular medium; regardless, I am not interested in engaging with anyone who uses this type of language.

It is totally fine for someone to say they disagree with a point I have made, and it is more than fine for a counter point to be made. At the least, perhaps together we can gain more understanding of other viewpoints from engaging in discussion about political perspectives that have confused me. At the most, maybe this blog can be one small venue for helping to maintain social cohesion, and by corollary, civil society.

Everything social is political. Of course, I am partisan to a particular political ideology. Everyone is, whether they are aware of this or not. I think we can sometimes either convince someone else of accepting our position on a topic, and at other times we can simply agree to respectfully disagree. If I offend with some of my opinions, please believe me when I say that this is not my intention at all.

For me, it is all about dialogue. The goal is to be a tiny voice in support of maintaining and even strengthening civil society in Canada.

The plan is for me to post about once every two weeks. I simply do not have enough time to blog anymore than that. This may also be the reason I cannot respond to comments made by other posters in a timely fashion.

Sincerely,
A Northern Plains Drifter (NPD)