A Journal of Humor and Verbal Anarchy

 

inside blog

What the critics are saying about Ithaca Sucks:

"out damned blogspot, out!" Macbeth

" the red-eyed demon of blogspots," Hunter S. Thompson

"the blogspot that ate Fall Creek." Ithaca Times

"the blogspot from Hell." The Ithaca Journal

"a public menace." Mayor Alan Cohen

"should be tracked down and exterminated." Tom Ridge, Homeland Security Secretary.

"Don't step in it. It's worse than gum." Cab Calloway

"More vitriol than petrol." Car and Driver Magazine


What Ezra says about blogging:

"It's all about what Nietzsche calls the 'will to blog.' You know, with the war in Iraq going on, it's hard to get up in the morning and talk about potholes on Seneca St. or fat cat granola heads in EcoVillage. Jittery young kids from Arkansas who happen to behind the controls of 25mm cannon are wiping out entire families in vans over there.

Here we are back in Ithaca going through the paces of our miserable, but mundane lives, sloshing through snow and mud, reading about all that crap in the Ithaca Journal. We live in an artificial la la land. You have to get up in the morning, prepared to challenge what I call the 'hegemony of the ordinary.' Throw mud in the faces of those who try to bury the horrors of war, the reckless drive for world domination, and the globalization of the American way of life, in between tips for losing weight, buying a new SUV, and rating cell phone plans. It's hard to keep a sense of perspective.

Log on to MSN or the online edition of The Ithaca Journal and you'll see what I mean. They're trying to sell the war like a product. Everything is a product in America. Ithaca Sucks is a product. Sure Ezra would like to have a big interactive website like Dave Barry's. Sure he'd like to live in Cayuga Heights and buy a new Camry every month. Have a limousine drop him off in front of the ABC Cafe. But Ezra's not really in it for the money. It's hard to think about money when you've basically got one reader out there. Hello! Are you there?

Ezra wakes up at 3 am some mornings. The neighbors are just getting in from scraping meatloaf off of plates at Manos or something like that, his cats are scratching the veneer off his 'Big K' faux cedar desk. Then thoughts start racing through his mind. About the war, about the site plans for Cayuga Green, or the Ithaca school district budget, or the issue of dog flops on the Commons. He can't get back to sleep. Blogging for Ezra is a way to put things in focus, to get in touch with the Sweeney Todd in his soul - you know, the demon barber of Fleet Street who wreaks revenge on his enemies, transforming them into little meat pies. What Sweeney really does, in Ezra's humble opinion, is to perform a crude form of alchemy. He's attempting to turn the day to day horrors of greed and capitalism in upon itself. It's a dog-eat-dog world. Sweeney turns the devourers into the devoured. With his razor and a cooking pot, he's performing sort of a sacrament. Now we're in the realm of Claude Levi-Strauss' 'The Raw and the Cooked.'

What Ezra attempts to do is to provide a mirror for our puffed up, self-important little community of Ithaca. No, he's not Jeffrey Dahmer. There are no human heads next to the beer and Tofu Pups in the fridge.

What Ezra has to say about the future of Ithaca Sucks:

"Some days Ezra thinks he should just focus on the Sunday Edition. It seems like he's been blogging every day for a month. Is that from obsessive-compulsiveness, or a sense of duty? Other days he dreams of his own website, an online store, Ithaca Sucks mugs, shirts, toothbrushes, pajamas. We could get the stuff made cheaply enough in Nicaragua.

The Sunday Edition is the crown of the Ithaca Sucks empire. Ithaca doesn't have a Sunday paper. It doesn't have a comedy club, or a lot of other things for that matter. If it had all those things, maybe Ezra would be a happier camper. (It's unlikely! He'd always find something to bitch about. Is that a politically incorrect word?)

Ezra is hoping for a Team Ithaca Sucks. A consortium of curmudgeons. Having other complainers around helps to relieve the necessity of doing it all by yourself."
Comments invited at: ezrakidder@gmail.com - Peace, Ezra at 5:08 AM