Calm After the Media Storm

So I've had a lot of time on my hands over the past few months, yet I've found myself immersed in something unexpected. It was my objective to try and write during all this spare time, get some articles published, start making some money, and then never return to a regular 9-5 job. My wife granted leniency and allowed me to give it a shot--six months was the timeframe.  The reality of the past sixty days though (two months of my allotted six) has been slightly different than I anticipated, and the bombastic commentary of certain events has led me to do one thing above all others--read the news. 

Now I haven't just been reading the news, I've been reading with unabated diligence. While I sip my morning coffee, when I sit down in the afternoon for a mid-day brainstorming session, or any other time that should be dedicating to researching or writing, I end up absorbing information from CNN, NPR, FOX News (yes, it's true), BBC, USA Today, CNet, etc., etc. While in the heart of election season I'm betting you can guess what I've been reading about . Yeah, war heros, domestic Arab terrorists and pigs, er, pitbulls with lipstick. 

The new-found hobby has been beyond my abilities of personal restraint, and my wife would see me glued to the computer screen, roll her eyes and say things like, "Are you still reading the news?", or, "Are you reading the news again?", or, "You've developed a serious addiction and need help." I'd become so intoxicated with the words of the media that I had to literally restrain myself from getting near my laptop in order to process all the informational analysis on the politico 'straight talk', rhetoric and 'stump speeches'. 

As I refelcted on my mass media overload I came to realize a common theme in the way political pundits were covering this election. If a campaign is going well, it has been mostly rewarded with positive press attention, i.e. McCain/Palin directly following the RNC, or Barack Obama ever since the Palin hype slid back into its dank hole. Does that mean McCain has been short-changed by the media like he claims? Maybe it does. But the Obama camp seems to be a smooth running machine that doesn't veer out of control when the Republicans dump an oil slick in their path. Does that mean he runs a more honorable campaign than Jon McCain? I don't know. What I do know is that the media seems to have wholeheartedly embraced Obama while depicting McCain as desperate, and to use Obama's catch-phrase, "out of touch." 

Not only do I think this is bad journalism, but I also think it is part of the reason a candidate like McCain, or John Kerry in 2004, gets put on their heels and has to come back throwing wild punches, thus prompting negative attention from the press. Presidential campaigns with momentum nearly always get the blessing of political reporters, and its a jaded practice that leaves people like you and I to filter through the muck in order to get to the truth. Who has time to do that....oh, wait. 

I'll be happy when this is all over and I can go back to reading uninspired columns about the distribution of $700,000,000,000 into our defunct financial system, the debate on how to deal with climate change and, of course, celebrity gossip--you know, the stuff that dominates headlines when people don't feel as though the future of our country is a stake any longer. I, for one, know I'll have more time on my hands come November 5th. 

Onward and upward America. Go Obama.

All About Me

I'm not one for introductions so let's keep this one short and sweet, shall we? My name is Jared Matkin, I am 31 years young, and struggling to find my identity in this strange existence. Over a year ago I quit my corporate job in Public Relations and traveled around the world for 11 months with my lovely wife (more on that here--www.escape29.blogspot.com). Now back in my home city, I face the grim challenge of trying to figure out how to keep enjoying myself without completely selling out to the whims of a conditioned society (partial sellout has not been ruled out entirely). Since I've never really been a writer, but would like to be, this blog will be a hodgepodge of literary prose and originality aimed at stimulating my creative juices.

Disclaimer: This site is dedicated to nothing in particular. Rather, it will be an anthology of thoughts (coherent or otherwise), nonsensical gibberish, rants, raves and the occasional dose of unfiltered blasphemy. Topics will cover whatever is on my mind when I sit down, from the political fodder of federal and state government, to my assessment of a complete stranger, or the deep animosity I have for motorcycles that are way louder than they need to be. Who knows. I could be offensive or I may be pleasant; I might be irrational or maybe I'll be level-headed, it will just depend on the day--and perhaps how many pundits I have encountered via consumption of mass media while sipping my morning coffee. 

Let the record state that I'm not a narcissist so much as I am an ordinary observer, who believes that for the sake of my own well-being some things just need to be unloaded from head-to-page so I don't explode as a result of life's absurdities, and the consequential emotions they are packaged with (i.e. rage, shock, awe, amusement, fear, joy, etc.). With that said, and like the title of this page suggests, this blog is all about me and my observations. As the old maxim so neatly summarizes, 'Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one." Hope you enjoy mine.....opinions that is, not asshole.