I have 38 minutes and 5 seconds, or the amount of time it takes to listen to Los Lobos’ album, This Time, to write this column. I think it’s time for a little evaluation.

I have now been writing Dichotomy columns for about as many weeks as I would have working on a semester’s worth of Temple News columns back in college. Writing for this website has been an eye-opening, creativity-awakening experience for me. It has allowed me to explore some new ideas and to put some old pieces of writing into a new context. More importantly, The Dichotomy of the Dog has opened (or maybe, re-opened) my mind and soul to just how important writing is to me. This is not something I merely want to do; this is something I need to do. My friend Eric very recently expressed quite well how I feel about writing when he said, "Self expression is something I believe allows people to get in touch with themselves, and our society suffers from people who cannot get in touch with their own feelings." By writing these pieces, I feel like I’ve plugged myself back into a very important part of my own soul. If it’s pretentious to say that writing is a spiritual exercise for me, well, then color me pretentious.

I’m not exactly sure where I’m ultimately going with The Dichotomy of the Dog but something Jimmy occasionally says these days keeps entering my mind. He’ll be hanging out with us and playing and he’ll stop to happily say, "This is the good stuff." The last time he said this was last week as he joyfully splashed in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a beautifully simple way of saying, "Gee, life is cool right now." In addition to whatever else Dichotomy is about, I want it to be about the "good stuff." This is not to say I’ll always steer away from things that make me angry or sad. What I do want is to avoid the cynicism, the world-weariness, and the negativity that seems to run rampant in our society today, because, in spite of it all, Jimmy is right—there is a lot of "good stuff" in this world.

I still have plenty of ideas for Dichotomy. In fact, some of them might have to be developed over the course of a few installments, as some of the topics I’m thinking about might need more than a week’s attention. This means I may have to occasionally write shorter pieces (like this one) while working on the longer ones. I don’t exactly have oodles of time to work on this, but I definitely think it’s worth the time I can devote to it.

Anyway, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading this and any other Dichotomy columns you’ve read. I truly appreciate your support. If you like what you’ve read, tell your friends! I’d also like to ask that, if you’ve been reading for a while, drop me an email or sign the guestbook and let me know any comments you might have. I’m not necessarily looking for a pat on the back here, I’m just really curious to know what you think about The Dichotomy of the Dog so far.

Thanks again! Los Lobos is winding down, so now I must also! Check in next week and I will introduce to you to some of My Favorite Dads.