The Hiatus

Ok, I hope you have 10 minutes of free time because this is going to take a lil’ while to read!

I really hate to do what I’m about to do, but I think it is necessary for several reasons. I have been officially blogging for over 2 years now and I think it’s time for a break. This is difficult for me to do, mostly because writing is one of my 3 biggest passions in life. But I don’t want to write unless it’s good, and I don’t know if I have the time to write reputable posts here at The Vortex these days.

When I first began blogging I wanted everything I wrote to be as if I’d written it for The New York Times’ or Washington Posts’ Editorial Page. I wanted to become “Syndicated Columnist Maelstrom” to my readers. And though I have a handful of short posts here, the majority of my 130+ posts over the last 2 years have indeed been full length, in-depth “articles” that could land in a reputable newspaper column somewhere, with a little polishing of course. I also intended to post 2 new topics each week. And though I came out the gates charging ahead with almost 4 new posts each week, I’ve since slowed to less than 1 a week, which I deem unacceptable.

Initially I was inspired by a love interest that I wanted to impress at all costs. So even though The Vortex was bound to exist because writing and sharing my opinions with others have always been on my “to do” list, it certainly helped me to think that I was impressing her. Once that particular impetus to write left me several months after I began, I then relied on a “something to prove” mentality to motivate me to write. And through it all, I have survived off the comments I’ve received on my site; the anonymous comments posted at the bottom of my posts, the verbal reinforcement, the IM convo’s that I’ve had with many of you. These things have kept me going because I didn’t want to disappoint my reading audience.

Through much of my life, writing has been there for me. It is an elixir of sorts for me. When I would argue and dispute with my siblings till I could argue no more, I’d go to my room and write down all my frustrations. When I felt inspired by nature, I’d write down what I thought was beautiful poetry. When death surrounded me, I could console my aching heart by writing down my thoughts. The remedying benefits of writing haven’t left me and never will. Indeed, writing here at The Vortex has helped me through the absolute most difficult time in my life.

Despite the desire I have to keep this site up, other current obligations will supercede it for at least the next 2 months. After those 2 months are up, I will decide if I can continue.

And though you may not be able to tell it from the last several months of posts here, I have written on almost every topic worthy of a post. I just haven’t posted the vast majority of them because I didn’t have the time to proofread, polish, or even finish what I’d written.

I want to write about Intelligent Design and how silly the debate over it is to me. But maybe not in the way you think I think. I mean, those who are truly God-believing people shouldn’t try to disguise their belief with man-made science. God needs no scientific validation. Is your faith in God so weak that you have to justify His existence through earthly, man-made devices???

I want to write about the loud political rhetoric coming from the Right wing of our government in the aftermath of al-Zarqawi’s death. Gay marriage and flag burning are just 2 of the major rabbits that they have once again pulled out of the hat (they do this every election year). Hopefully no one will be fooled by this silliness, but I know people are often tricked into voting on these issues as opposed to issues that are genuinely affecting their every day life.

I want to write about how there is NO OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OR RELIGION in this country, and that this is no mistake. Therefore, it is completely plausible that in the next 40 years this could be a predominantly Spanish speaking country with Buddhists beliefs. And that would, to me, represent the essence of what the Founding Fathers wanted given the deliberate nature of their beliefs by leaving those 2 points of contention out of the Constitution. So sing the national anthem in Spanish, Swahili or Cantonese, as long as it is out of respect for this nation. And respect all religions as long as you expect yours to be respected.

I want to write about Kobe vs. Shaq and how people who are all-of-a-sudden Miami Heat fans are really just Kobe haters in disguise. People that hate Kobe love Miami because Shaq plays for them. Likewise, people that hate Miami love Kobe, and by proxy love the Lakers. NO YOU DIDN’T LIKE MIAMI 2 YEARS AGO, AND PROBABLY COULDN’T FIND IT ON A MAP, you just hate Kobe! Keep it thorough!!!

I want to write about the Shooting Stars I’ve been seeing over the past week, and the approach of an asteroid toward Earth’s orbit, and the appearance of several planets. Why? Because I’m a stargazer…I can’t help it!

I want to write about my belief that setting a timetable to leave Iraq is the absolute right thing to do, and how at some point we will have to anyhow, if for no other reason than the fact that our Armed Services are overextended worldwide. And once again consider that nothing has happened in Iraq without a deadline. The turnover of the Iraqi government, the many elections, and the filling of their cabinet all had to happen on a time schedule. Funny thing is, when there was no “bloodbath” following these deadlines the President and his administration praised the Iraqi people, and criticized people who said that the deadline would bring insurgents out of the wood-work and give rise to a bloodbath. BUT NOW, a deadline to bring our troops home would be sending the wrong message to the Iraqi people and would allow the insurgents to just lie in wait to wreak havoc on the Iraqi people??? Which one is it Mr. President, you can’t straddle the fence, you can’t have it both ways, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

As an addendum to the last paragraph, I want to write about how pathetic I think Congress is, especially after they spent a week debating over a pull-out of our troops from Iraq. During this debate 2 Democratic bills were on the table that outlined a pull-out of our Troops from Iraq. The Republicans called these bills “cut and run,” but then the President’s own Commander in Iraq came out a few days later and outlined a plan to pull-out of Iraq that sounded eerily similar to the Democratic Reed-Levin proposal. Go figure!

As an addendum to that paragraph, I’d like to write about how the Republicans are great at giving everyone 2 options (e.g. “It’s either America or al-Qaeda” or “are we gonna cut and run or stay the course”) when there are a plethora of options on almost any topic. There are only a few things that are as black and white as the Republicans would have you believe. I mean, you’re only pregnant or you’re not, and you’re either dead or you’re alive. Some people even debate those.

I’d also like to write about how pathetic the Democrats are. They have virtually every political argument in their favor right now and they still can’t capitalize.

I want to write about the many contradictions in what is said by this administration and what is actually happening. For instance, if we want to find Bin laden, why are we pulling troops out of Afghanistan and allowing NATO to take over there when we believe that we could’ve caught him before when we first invaded over there, but made the mistake of turning over the responsibility to Afghan soldiers? Shouldn’t we be “staying the course” in Afghanistan if Bin Laden is the guy we’re after? If we are safer now than before, why is it just as easy to get illegal objects on airplanes and into our nations’ ports now as it was “before?” Why isn’t there border security to our north or to our south? WHY DON’T I FEEL SAFER?!!!

I want to write about how Iraq was an imminent threat to the United States in 2003 after doing nothing, but how now North Korea is not a threat after they shot off 7 missiles the other day, 1 of which was capable of reaching US soil. Another glaring contradiction that further amazes me because we know that they have a Nuclear Weapons program, and may already have between 6 and 8 Nuclear warheads. Iraq, as you might recall, had none!

I want to write about Women, because I like them and I want them to like me too! Especially Jessica Alba!

I want to write about Watch ads (yes, that timepiece on your wrist) and how they always have the Watch set to 10:10 in magazine ads.

I want to write about Music from Jazz to Hip Hop, Salsa to Gospel.

I want to write about how I STILL think BET is the worst channel on TV and they should just let me run it.

I really, really, really want to write about how I think that if you watch Maury Povich’s Talk Show, that you are complicit in the degradation of America. What a waste of time, life, and brain cells!!! He is not helping those people or those children, and he knows it. And if you watch, you are only contributing to the delinquency of those ignorant acting people on his show.

I want to write about how to make Grey’s Anatomy much better. I mean, I enjoy the show, but the plotlines could be more in-depth and as of now, the writing is only 1 level better than that of the incredibly in-depth Desperate Housewives.

So, as you can see, I have a lot to say, and a lot to write about. But duties lie before me that I cannot ignore, and they take much time to get through. Hopefully I’ll be able to resume posting here by the end of August, but for now I don’t know. So for now, I’ll just refer to this prose hibernation as The Hiatus!

Thank you to everyone that has read this page. Thank you to everyone that has passed this site on to friends. A special thank you to those who discuss serious issues with me which often spark trains of thought in my head which then end up on this site. A special thanks to a gentleman who has spread the word all over my current campus about this site, and has been one of only a few people in my new world that I can carry on an elevated conversation with (Lester, you know I’m talkin’ about you man).

You all don’t know how much the last 2 years of writing here at The Vortex have meant to me. Honestly, it has been a blessing of sorts for me. I truly want to say Thank You!!!

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

“People don’t change when they’re told they need to, people change when they realize they must” -Thomas Friedman

Gracias!
-Maelstrom

PS: Much of what I’ve written over the last 2 years is still relevant. Indeed, some of the issues I addressed exactly 1 year ago are finally being debated nationwide. Point is, The Vortex is still a viable resource for out of the box thinking…so just peruse some of my old posts. You won’t be disappointed!