Speaking Out

Well, I just sent the URL for this 'blog to my parents, sister, and great aunt and uncle (welcome!). True, this site has always been accessible to anyone who happens to stumble across it (though, with a URL like "myupsilamba"--an obscure reference to a made-up word that Nabakov uses in one of his novels--I doubt too many people are going to Google their way here).
"Violin in the Void" is an ode to Vladimir Nabakov as well. In the preface to his "Invitation to a Beheading," he compares his words to the music of a “violin” that fills the “void.” But, he also acknowledges that no matter how beautiful the writing, it can never be as perfect as the ideas it embodies.
I have been a little hesitant to spread the word about my 'blog lest I offend/bore/disappoint anyone with my postings whose opinions and feelings I really care about(not that I don't care about Victor's, but he was the one who encouraged me to start this, so there was no hiding my blog from him even if I'd wanted to). And I wanted to give myself a few weeks to get the gist of this.
I started this 'blog as a means to fulfill one of the New Year's resolutions I made for 2005: to find my literary voice. Yes, I know, I write for a living. But journalists by definition are not encouraged to insert their opinions, or their 'voice,' into their stories. It's impossible, of course, to be completely objective in our coverage. We all approach stories with our own biases. But we are taught to suppress any preconceptions or prejudices we might hold about the subjects on which we write.
Ideally, journalists are taught to learn and write about both sides of an issue and allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. Unfortunately, I think that over the years I have become so accustomed to suppressing my personal feelings and opinions about the subjects on which I write, that in some cases, I've discouraged myself from forming (or voicing, at least) any opinions at all. But I've come to realize that being a good journalist doesn't require that you have no personal opinions, only that you are able to maintain an open mind and to keep your personal opinions from unduly influencing the way you cover a story. I also recognize that many of the journalists I admire appear regularly on TV, espousing their own opinions. And those opinions are particularly valued because, it's assumed, they have been drawn from an immense amount of research into the subject on which, these days, reporters are considered "experts" (at least, to TV audiences). I also realize now that even the most widely acknowledged "intellectuals" like the late Susan Sontag were wrong now and then--and admitted as much. Sontag vacillated wildly over the years in her opinions on everything from politics to pop culture. And, while I strongly disagree with some of her positions, I admire her for having the courage to put her opinions out there in the public sphere (and to write intelligent, well thought-out arguments supporting them) even when she knew that many would disagree with her.
So think of this as my first tentative step into the public sphere, alone--not as a journalist, but as myself.