Pen-Elayne on the Web

The Bearable Lightness of Being

I awoke at 7:00 on this fine Easter morning, unprompted by either alarm or church bells, somewhat surprised to find it so bright outside for so early in the day. Just a couple weeks ago, it seemed I was losing my yearly hour of sleep in turning the clock forward and waking up to pre-dawn dimness. And I felt so energized by actual light that I didn't, I couldn't turn over and go back to sleep; I actually made something of a dent in my comics reading this morning. (And I bless the folks at DC for using brighter colors and not shrinking their lettering to the point where it hurts these aging eyes!) That's the effect lightness can have on one's day.

And I've come to feel the same way about a light touch in the blogosphere, particularly these days as the real world just seems grimmer and grimmer. Yes, I consider every single politically-oriented blogger linked to via my sidebar to be must-reading and vital and important and a damn good writer, but I seem to gravitate more towards those who can put a clever (or even sarky) spin on things. It's like the difference between watching the BBC World News and The Daily Show. Yeah, they're both on at 11:00 PM, they both deal with world events, but while I'm gratefully informed by the former, it's the latter to which I tune in and enjoy far more often. (By the way, the NY Times' Frank Rich has a terrific article about the show and this very subject today; here's the Google link so you don't have to give the NYT your personal income info.) And in that spirit, I want to again give kudos to Maru Soze (link at sidebar), whose brilliant sass continually makes me smile; as well as praise the latest cartoon from Ampersand (l.a.s.) and Creature Feature Future, a very insightful and humorous essay by Adam Felber (l.a.s.) that I wish I'd had the talent and/or foresight to write.