Is this thing on?

So. Everyone I know is blogging nowadays. I don’t plan to use this blog as a diary.  I named this blog thelowbrowintellectual because I want to focus on academic, and specifically more literary, concerns without having to try to publish anything or worry myself about any kind of tedious process. I thought about naming this blog thelazyacademic, the eruditeidiot, and certain other descriptions to the same effect, but it all amounts to the same thing: I don’t want to do anything but share my thoughts about certain pieces of literature or about any literature-related stuff.  Once these thoughts are created and typed on the page, then goodbye to them and I’m free to go watch Netflix or read another book. I’m actually much busier than that, but leisure time shouldn’t be taken up by concerns that I’m not being productive enough.  A blog is a product, right?

Since I’m poor (mainly because of the fact that I’m a Public School Teacher and I have PILES of student loan debt) and have a two-year-old, I won’t be getting my doctorate (which I always expected would happen as a matter of course). By the time I could spare the time and money, a doctorate wouldn’t be financially prudent anymore. This blog is a way for me to expel all the stored-up ideas I had for possible dissertation topics or papers.  It’s also a way for me to have a conversation with Myself if necessary (though I’m hoping with other like-minded people) about interesting reading material.

Of course I’d like to acknowledge any comments made on this blog, or involve myself in any discussion which may arise. I’ll always be open to (and even encouraging of) that.

The truth about myself (and I’d say I’m painfully self-aware, though so would so many others who aren’t in the least even a tittle aware of Anything, much less themselves) is that I’m an above-average, and quite possibly even brilliant, thinker (at least in some areas) and a terrible academic writer. So there it is. My highest expectations for this experiment are that a couple of random Internet People (who, it could be argued, are not really people at all) and a few dear friends (who will say they are delighted to do it but think me a high-maintenance friend for asking) will stumble upon this blog, not really understanding half of what I hope to get across (probably through no fault of their own), or even more likely, not caring at all or seeing any relevance whatsoever to What Really Matters in Life, but good-naturedly commenting just so I will be sure to know they have read what I have self-indulgently blurted out in a really kind of vaporous and casual way. But as pessimistic as I might seem to be, I wouldn’t be writing a blog if at the core I wasn’t hoping for some sort of audience (it doesn’t need to be Adoring so much as Not Hateful or Utterly Confused) who can make me more self-aware and who might actually be interested in Intellectual (at least on a pseudo level) thoughts conveyed through a (relatively) Lowbrow medium.

Why would you trust me?  Well, there are some arguments both for and against whether you should.

I’m an English teacher with a Master’s Degree in English ( I graduated Summa Cum Laude and have been awarded a few teaching honors as well).  I’m publishing a novel (it will be out soon). I’ve won international songwriting awards. I went to Hollywood with American Idol. I scored in the 96% percentile on the language portion of the GRE and won a major scholarship for my SAT score in undergrad. I taught myself Italian. I’ve traveled to a lot of cool places and read more voraciously than anyone I’ve ever personally met.

But, to be fair, I went to two middling universities, have never won Teacher of the Year, and some of what I’ve stated you’ll have to assume is true, especially if you don’t know me personally. Singing and music have little to do with Literary Things (some would argue, though I disagree), and most people in the 21st century have traveled to a lot of cool places (I mean, really, who does this person think she is? Ugh). And– I’ll go ahead and place this in the Why You Shouldn’t Read This Blog paragraph, though in my mind it belongs in the former paragraph– I’m as neurotic and self-conscious and kind of ridiculous as any Woody Allen character… or maybe even the Great Woody Allen himself (though I don’t claim to be nearly as brilliant or successful as He is).  I’m pretty much Nobody Special.

My next post will be… (because I’ll need to ease into this whole blogging thing… slowly, slowly, like starting Dr. Zhivago, which I had to begin at least ten times before I finally gobbled it up in almost one full sitting)…. A list of my favorite novels (that I can remember and which will certainly piss me off the moment I post it because I’ve forgotten 100 more).  Non-fiction has its place, and children’s books have theirs.  This will be a list of novels only. Then you can see if you can trust me, if my literary palate is anywhere close to yours.

If you LOVE Ernest Hemingway or Stephanie Meyer (is her last name plural or singular?  Meh, I’m too lazy to look it up because it Doesn’t Matter) or Joyce Carol Oates, you will probably not be as pleased.  Not that I have anything against these authors, really (well, maybe I do just a little when it comes to Hemingway–the bastard); but you are welcome to continue reading if you please. I’m just not trying to trick any Internet People into thinking maybe they’ll like this blog if it is almost certainly assured that they won’t.

A disclaimer (or a few): Not everything I say will be precise.  This is precisely the point of selecting a blog medium. So don’t bother correcting me on the details. If it is Important to me, it will be Correct. I’m pretentious at times, tedious at others (or quite possibly at the same time), and I will definitely say in 100 words what I could have said in ten.  it’s my blog, and thus my prerogative, and I won’t have the time or inclination to edit, so if you will permit me, I’ll just throw it out there and call my copiousness Style. I also am VERY much interested in the philosophy, psychology, symbology, history, and ambiguity presented in novels. Just so you’re not surprised.

Testing, testing, 123. More to follow. I have some ideas… like some revolutionary ideas about The Great Gatsby (yes, revolutionary and even NEW, as far as I know).