The Preamble

For months I've struggled searching for a foundation to this blog (political, a Brooklyn journal of living, the environment, etc), delaying the necessity of having one because I could not conclude what it was I wanted this site to be about. Simply speaking, it was foolish to delay. A completed work is never a mirror of the work at commencement; nor is it just a hardened, fortified shell of its adolescent self. Yes, the completed work grows, blossoms and flourishes from its inception. And yes, the completed work resembles somewhat its infantile state. But the completed work is almost always a thing born of a single idea, which at the end represents many ideas, many ideals, various opinions, at times contradictions within itself, and many different people. In essence, it is a living, breathing thing spun from the lips of a living, breathing human.

Hi.

Our bodies decay and reconstruct on a daily basis. In a seven year time span, all the cells in your body will have died and been replaced by new ones. I'm 28. I've rotted and reconstructed four times entirely in my life. Am I the same person today as I was 28 years ago? I'm digressing, and there will be plenty of time to explore the existential and metaphysical elements of life as we progress forward. But my point is: I'm -we're all- constantly changing. This living, breathing thing that I have begun will be constantly changing (and hopefully constantly updated!). To try at the beginning to pigeonhole this work into one set niche I think would be a mistake.

But that is not to say certain themes will not run through the posts consistently. I, like all, have my own beliefs, and values, and certainly they will spring up often, if not always, whether consciously or not. And I will try to uphold the principles that I live by within the posts, and hope that should I get out of hand, or severely off course my readers will right my path, provide the beacon of light to bring this unsteady ship into shore. "When people lead, leaders follow." I hope to provide you sound arguments for a more peaceful world.

Hence the name. For those familiar with the Japanese Anime Trigun, the "Humanoid Typhoon" is the name branded on the protagonist, Vash the Stampede, from civilians on the planet. He has been given this moniker because it seems that everywhere he travels, through every city he steps a foot, he leaves only rubble and death in his wake. He is proclaimed a criminal with a bounty for his capture. But those who come to know Vash, what he is and what he believes in, know that it is not he who causes such destruction- for he a kind and gentle man- but those in pursuit of him, either due to the bounty on his head or the gang of ruthless mercenaries sent to kill him because of his beliefs and his values. You see, Vash beliefs all people have the basic right to life, that not even he (who, as revealed, wields far more power than any average person) has the right to take the life of another, even knowing they are criminals, or those malicious souls sent to kill him; even in retaliation to murder, Vash does not condone "eye-for-an-eye" ideology. He upholds two basic principles, sets his moral compass to them, and delineates from them never: "love and peace."

Regardless of topic or rhetoric, I hope each post posits one of these ideals at the forefront and moves readers towards them. I'm sure disagreements will be had, and misunderstandings of my methodology or logic pertaining to certain topics will exist, leading some to label me the "humanoid typhoon." But I will work to calm the winds of hatred, fear, and ignorance from where destruction truly is derived.