Mach Log season 7, resolution 30

There are eleven essay drafts sitting in the pre-publish bin on the Mach Log right now.

I want to finish them; none of them deserve to be discarded entirely; several of them are about two polish sweeps from completion. But I can’t put any of them out yet, partly because housework and workwork have swamped me for months, robbing me of the momentum I need to keep the Mach Log moving, but also because doing so would violate my 30thbirthday resolution, which I should have revealed here several months ago but the explanation for it got trapped inside one of the essays I can’t publish while abiding by it, at least for now. I do need to get back into the swing of this, however, so I’m going to kick off Mach Log season 7 now with a decontextualized read of the resolution, promising a better explanation in the future. It is as follows:

It is neither above nor beneath you to create beautiful things, and refuse any lesser aim in doing so: academic, interpersonal, moral or emotional.

There is a man by the name of John Dolan who frequently goes by Gary Brecher who is known under the alias The War Nerd. This 60-something year old Irish-American expatriate understands the vile logic of war and the rhythmic backboard of poetry, having studied both his entire life from more places and circumstances than I ever expect to encounter. He has world-worn experience of a brand I had forgotten was real, and that I’ve never heard relayed so clearly OR honestly. I’ve been trying to absorb this intergenerational lost wisdom through his podcast and his newsletter, burning many of my spare hours this year doing so. I’m not quite done with this ersatz seminar on the War Nerd, but I’m almost there.

Writing can be a beautiful thing, and in keeping with this resolution I’m not about to publish a paragraph that can’t take advantage of this man’s perspective to the degree that’s feasible. It would be lesser without it. You might wonder whether this attitude lead to a spiral of patient enrichment over the rest of my life? God I hope so.