The Spiral Staircase

Because I don’t crave any particular notoriety for my ideas and think the “look mom, no hands!” approach to functioning in a public forum is rather tasteless and jejeune, I’ve decided to remain anonymous. The focus should stay off of me. I’m not trying to become a media personality.

Diatribes and scenarios about how it’s all going to ruin and we all had it better back in those halcyon days tend to be right up my alley. I recognize the fallacy of relying on a golden past that wasn’t, after a bit of inspection, so golden after all. It’s a seductive narrative frame, just as the opening scenes of movies tend to enter the story at a point of calm and composure only to introduce conflict and drama. Still, the cultural critic in me can’t escape the gnawing sense that we’re poised on the brink of a new paradigm, and that the shift from one way of life to another won’t be a pretty sight.