housekeeping
by DonavanBy now, everyone should know I hang out at DEKS every Wednesday for happy hour. Wes used this bit of information to check up on me today. “So you’ve finally posted something on your web site,” he said. This isn’t the first time that Wes has pointed out my devotion to idleness. (Hey, Wes! Keep me on my toes, okay?) I thought I should explain what I’ve been up to over the past month and a half.
After finishing the first edition of The Beer Hall Guide to Long Island, I thought I needed to take some time to figure out what my purpose was. Where am I going with all this? The best way to accomplish this kind of thinking is to lay in bed a lot staring at the ceiling. I drank a lot of White Russians too (emulating my role model, the Dude). If only Rocky Point had a bowling alley.
Anyway, I think I have a good grasp on what sort of editorial line I want to take with this beer blog thing. Strap yourselves in for a heavy dose of anti-capitalisit locovorian neo-socialism. Sound scary? You should be scared.
The first step on road to the new online experience known as donavanhall.net is to make the site a little more intuitive — well, less confusing at least. I’ve always had four main sections: (1) my magazine The Angler, (2) my general blog Donavan’s Brain, (3) craft beer stuff The Beer Hall, and (4) the podcast Radio Beer Hall. Links are above.
The Angler is the anchor. That’s were the heart and soul of my efforts lie. The Angler is a print magazine that I publish three times a year. In it is essays and fiction. It’s the long version of what you find here.
Donavan’s Brain might be a bit weird for some of you. I’ll just warn you right now: it’s going to get a bit political. Just remember: Beer is politics.
The Beer Hall. Hey, you’re reading it. Enough said.
Radio Beer Hall. Alright. I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, but don’t worry I’ll be jabbering subversive ideas into my microphone very soon.
October 25th, 2008 at 7:43 am
“… a heavy dose of anti-capitalisit [sic] locovorian neo-socialism.”
Hm, a bit scary - yes. Perhaps qualified anti-capitalism (?). Is not craftsmanship a form of free enterprise? Or do you want to drink beer brewed by federal employees (tovarish!) mass produced for the masses? How about pro- benign, enlightened capitalism? (that is, in contravention to gross, self-serving avarice that benefits a hyper-wealthy elite?)
Neo-socialism: would that be a central government that invests in the populace to promote growth of the tax base towards the greater good? Or are you preferring the sort of in-yer-bizness sort of socialism that dictates the percentage alcohol content in your brew, what sort of ingredients you might use, sets the price of commodities used in its production, determines what qualifications you must have in order to get licensed to brew it in your own kitchen…etc. ?
Have you considered libertarianism? or (gasp!) what about a wholesale return to the principles of the American Experiment?
October 27th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Peter- No form of capitalism is benign, any one who tells you so is a greedy *expletive deleted* who wants to get in your pockets and leave you beside the road naked and bleeding. The reason capitalism doesn’t work is that it presumes competition between people who should be cooperating. Capitalism starts with the wrong premise. It only seems right because we’ve been told capitalism is great so many times we started believing it.
Your questions about socialism are a bit leading. The kind of central control you describe is exactly what we have in the US right now. Have you taken a look at the rules and regulations for starting a brewery?
Stay tuned. The picture will be less fuzzy as we move along. Cheers!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Capitalism (NOT the perversions of it that are Corruption and Greed) is benign because it is the only social system that leaves individuals free to pursue and achieve their goals via personal character, mind, perserverance, and moral principles.
Without Capitalism, we would not have Blue Point/Brickhouse/Black Forest/Southampton/etc…
And we would not have potential Start-ups like Blind Bat, your brewery,
Great South Bay Brewery, and on a larger scale Crop Circle.
It ain’t perfect, that’s for sure.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Michael- Thanks for the input. At best you could put forward that there is a benign form of capitalism that is practiced by the small business owners here in the US. In fact, I’m in substantial agreement with Ralph Nader when he said that the ONLY capitalists left in American are the small business owners because they are the only ones in the system that are allowed to fail. The BIG capitalism of the multinational corporations (corruption and greed) is not REAL capitalism, but some form of high-end welfare for rich dudes. I’ll grant that mom and pop capitalism is less evil. The reason it is less evil is that small businesses are usually still engaged in their community; they cooperate with their neighbors and place the good of others over their bottom line. In short they are less evil inasmuch as they deviate from strict capitalism and embrace a more communitarian/cooperative way of practicing business. That’s enough for now. Cheers!