This site may be regarded as, begrudgingly, a “blog”. Yet the connotations of “blogging” have been so deeply contaminated by “how to” tutorials and diet-fads, that such a term seems unfitting and misleading as to the stated goal of writing here A more accurate description of this site would be an archive and platform of essays. Despite this term having just as much of a negative connotation, considering the last time you used it was your high-school English assignment on “To Kill a Mockinbird”, the format of “The Essay” is perhaps one of the most fruitful written endeavors for expression and inquiry. The essay may be likened to a sandbox of ideas, or rather the whole of the intellectual playground in its entirety. It is where stories and thoughts may take shape in their crudest most primal form, before finding way to becoming more coherent self-contained creations.
The etymological grandfather of the term “Essay” is “essayer” which in both modern and old-French refers to “to test”, “to trial”, or simply “to try”. These essays have been written in a similar fashion, though with some stylistic and tonal differences, to that of 16th century French man who first populated the artform of essays: Michel de Montaigne (Of whom I feel a strong unearned kinship with, mostly due to sharing the same birthday date).
Here you will find mostly essays related, but not limited to, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, and Anthropology, mixed with some film, literature, and whatever I believe is necessary to prove a point. Some pieces are more humorous, some more serious, some more academic, some barely based on anything but speculation. Yet like its French origin: “the essay” is meant for that, for trying.
The Need For This Site
The main reason for this site is my wish to see public intellectual discourse take place outside academia, whose own bureaucratic structure and sets of obligations often stilt any opportunity for lucid creative thought. Instead of writing on that which is most interesting or urgent, the graduate student is forced to write on that which is currently been researched on by one’s supervisor or offers a suitable grant. Though this system works well enough, so that cancer, aids and neuroimaging research are often able to secure funding (as a society, we should), it leaves out what is unique about the academic settings – the freedom of inquiry, to look not only to that place where societal and market forces force us to look. Furthermore, in academia, one faces an endless barrage of obligations (teaching, research and answering student emails about unfair grading) which leaves little room and time for that project which is academia’s essence: the place of the free creation, integration, and dissemination of knowledge. Because though certain professors are able to integrate that ideological goal in their work, it’s obvious that technological age has brought upon an absurd imbalance, where academics continue to talk amongst each other, via academic papers, laboriously working out ideas, concepts, and jargon, yet the audience reached is often limited to other specialists and 30 student classrooms. This is but a fraction of any mildly viral video whose minimal comedic and graphic investment has been able to grab the attention of thousands and thousands of viewers. Thus, important cultural discussions are left undiscussed, our attention is left unattended, and it is only rarely that important issues are thoroughly investigated in the digital sphere, without resorting to the worst combination of viral-video practices (aka click-baits). This platform of essays is my humble attempt at integrating my academic background, for wide-scale consumption, whilst taking advantage of that philosophical freedom the essay format provides. If that task should fail, then so be it, I can but only take solace in having “tried.”