On Beginning to Read 1984


August 18, 2006 @ 5:50 pm

Ha ha ha. See, I’m reading 1984, which for some reason I never had to read in my career as a high school or college student, nor as a teacher.

As I’ve said to many people who ask how the reading’s going, “I feel like I’m reading Karl Rove’s political playbook.”

So, despite my underemployment and subsequent “prole-like” poverty, I still joined the ACLU yesterday. (Some of you may be surprised that I wasn’t a member already. I don’t know what took me so long. It’s the same with the reading of 1984, just never got a round to it.)

And today I registered to vote in Massachusetts. It’s a sad sort of thing, actually. Of all the things I loved about Maine, being a Maine voter was– I think– the thing I loved most. Maybe second to autumn and its absolute beauty. Anyway, voting in such a small state, you can actually see the effect of your vote. That’s why we/they had an Independent governor for so long and such a strong Green Party presence.

I often listen to NPR even while I read. It’s been interesting, because I’ll read about Winston and his telescreens with people monitoring his every move while analysis of the recent court ruling against wire-tapping streams from the radio. Surreal, head-shaking reality. At least judges are fighting and analyst can comment.