Posted December 3rd, 2003 by Sean Williams

The blog world seems to move in waves, between a colorless sniping hatred on the one hand and a mutual admiration association on the other. I’ve got some mad props in the last few days which I hope doesn’t mean I’m about to get another missive from an old friend telling me I suck.

In order to pass along the good will, let me give you the address of my favorite blog outside my family. I wish I could just post a link, but that requires some kind of written out stuff with slashes and hrefs and stuff that I don’t know.

http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

There are two guys in Iraq who are keeping this blog going back and forth and finally, this morning, one of them changed the colors so we know which is writing what. Despite the fact that you can tell they aren’t American, the talk of queues and liters, they also have a young person’s voice. They write in such a way, with an ironic and angry eye, that I know if I hung out with these guys I would be friends with them.

They don’t constantly condemn the Americans, they are certainly annoyed at the inconvenience and feel like this war is completely wrong, but they don’t seem to be big fans of the way Iraq was before either. I just love reading what they write to one another, it’s refreshing to know that the young American voice might actually be a young international voice, that you don’t have to be raised on The Simpsons to have a refined sense of irony.

One other thing. I just read the lead article on Salon about Lewis and Tolkien’s relationship, and although this is something I’ve read about a thousand times before, I also have the kind of mind that forgets every little detail moments after I learn it, so it was cool to read again.

When you read something like that, you find yourself really wishing you could be one of the three guys on that walk. You wish you could be one of the roommates with the Coen Brothers and Holly Hunter or whatever. You always wish you could be part of this great collection of minds going back and forth inspiring one another to further greatness.

It then occurs to me that I might actually already be in a group like that. When I think of the writers and artists who want to be associated with me, I realize that we are actually quite extraordinarily above the fold and that it’s possible that I am the weak link. It’s possible that if I can just get my ass in gear and hold up my end of the brilliance (if I’m capable) then we might actually be a group of brilliant artists instead of all of them being brilliant and me hosting dinner parties.

So, y’know, I’ll get right on that.