Why "Shallow Center"?

Among the many changes fatherhood wreaks on a man's life is the destruction of any significant chunks of personal time. When you consider yourself a writer who happens to have a day job, this is a major negative, in that one of the things serious writing requires is, well, significant chunks of personal time.

Hence this blog. Here I hope to post my thoughts -- sometimes serious, often not -- on things that matter to me and things I find interesting. My New Yorker debut will have to wait until my sweet, wonderful daughter generously returns some of my time to me. Until then, I'll have lunch hours, late nights, and other random times to do smaller bits of the kind of writing that isn't as abundant in my life these days. Essays, sports observations, reviews, commentary -- just about anything is fair game, except for a Bob Graham-like daily diary of my life's most mundane details.

Why "Shallow Center"? First, I love baseball. Second, I'm a centrist -- the world is colored in many, many shades of gray, not black and white, and centrism offers the most reliable way to interpret it, I believe. Third, I intend to write about a lot of unimportant stuff. No one needs another mid-thirtysomething fella's views on What's Right and Wrong. (Though that probably won't stop me from taking a whack at it from time to time.) But a regular guy's view on The Matrix Reloaded? Well, that's another story.

Feedback is welcome and encouraged. I will post as often as I can -- and if I know someone, anyone, is reading, I'll be much more willing to do so. Thanks for checking in.