A time to write?

I've been, like many people, inspired by my country's selection of Obama as president. I think it says wonderful things about how far we have come in a relatively short period of time. Racism is not dead, but is clearly greatly diminished.

In light of this inspiration, I've sought to put a little extra effort into my life. I'd like to live a fuller life- to laugh a little bit more, to relish my family and friends more, and perhaps to create art in my writing.

I have often flirted with the idea of becoming a writer. For as long as I can remember, I've written fragments of stories or poems.

Recently, I began to write steadily and to work towards finishing my first novel. I signed up for writing classes and became friendly with people whose writing I admired. Yet, I always felt a little bit out of place. I never felt that my pains were deep enough to write anything personally profound- though I am a survivor of cancer, I made my way through it with more daring and humor than self reflection. And culturally, I felt a little out of touch with the writers that I admired. I have the salesman's outward ease with people, but inwardly I'm more conservative than the Brady bunch. I can converse with people who are, shall we say, "chemically altered" into an artistic frame, but I've never been comfortable around drugs. As a kid, I was so straight laced that I ended up fighting with someone who offered me a cigarette. In many ways, that conservative kid is still with me.

And, yet, I've always felt that I had something to say. That there was something inside begging for artistic expression. I will write this weekend and give my inner artist a few hours to live in the light of this new day of hope. Yes, we can.