The Journal of his Delights

The title says it all.

The first is from a nonprofit working on development issues. It’s an education/promotion piece about the Girl Effect. Check it out - it’s a wonderfully creative approach to educating about the benefits of helping women and girls in the developing world.

I saw the other piece on Emily’s blog, and it really is amazing. People are so creative! You have to be patient though — its coolness doesn’t manifest till about 1:08. Trust me though, it’s worth it.

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

Yes, the machines really are playing Nude by Radiohead.

I’ve been tagged by Kim for a meme. Specifically, it’s to pick up the nearest book, flip to page 123, go to the 5th sentence, and read the next three sentences.

I have next to me The Journey from the Center of the Page by Jeff Davis.

“By day’s or week’s end, you may recognize patterns of our culture’s flotsam that may give you fodder for creating a fiction or nonfiction scene. Weaving in and twisting these speech bits also can give a poem texture as it comments on the nature of our daily language. One student wrote a short story in which one of the characters spoke almost entirely in commercial jingles and sound bites.”

I’ll tag CC, Lowie, Emily, and Carrie.

It’s been too long since I last updated. Mea culpa.

To be honest, though, the blog was suffering from an identity crisis. I wasn’t sure what I should focus on now that I’m not traveling around the world. My life? My writing? Making a difference in the world, the mundane, the absurd, all of the above, none of the above?

I didn’t have an answer, and I felt the blog needed a framework — some kind of structure to give it meaning. Or if not meaning, then at least a guiding principle or theme. Otherwise it was likely to become an incoherent mess and collection of random perceptions.

So I let the blog lay fallow; to give its landscape a chance to rest and become fertile once more. The result? I still don’t have a proper answer, but I do have the seeds of something; a sense of what I’d like to focus on next.

In the last few years, I’ve been interested in exploring human suffering. That’s one of the original reasons I went to London for the Masters in Development Studies. It’s one of the reasons I worked for over a decade with AI. But, consistent with all the changes in my life, it’s time for something new. Or not really new — more of an evolution.

Timelessness and change. That’s what I’m interested in exploring. I know they’re big topics, but then human suffering wasn’t exactly small either. And I don’t have much more beyond that — just the two seed words. But it’s enough for a start.

Of course, you’ll still get random perceptions, posts about food, photography, geekiness, and the like, but there’ll be a tendency to head in particular directions. And there will also be some changes, including moving the site to my own domain. I’d like to post some of my poetry, and I’d feel better if I had more control over the site.

I’ll also be focusing more on writing; one of the ways I’m changing my life. Also expect to see more posts about advocacy and issues of concern; to help with changing the world for the better. As for the timeless, well… that’ll be harder, but I’m willing to go looking. *grin*

So, I’m sorry for the lack of posts, but I needed to figure out where to head next with the Journal. I hope you stick around and enjoy the ride.