Use All Your Well-Learned Politesse
Tuesday, May 11th, 2021Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Mr. D, a man of wealth (ed: not actually true) and taste. I’ve been commenting here at Mitch’s place for many years, but I have also been blogging at Mr. Dilettante’s Neighborhood for over 15 years, so I know the blogging biz. Mitch has graciously asked me to be a contributor here and I am grateful for the opportunity.
Brief intro: my current day job is as a contractor with a large medical device company, although I have done many other things in my career. I’ve been married to Mrs. D for nearly 30 years (anniversary in September!) and I live in the northern suburbs. I have two adult children.
I am roughly a contemporary of Mitch. I grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Minnesota in 1992, after spending five years in Chicago. I am a Catholic boy and a product of Catholic education. Unfortunately, I came of age in the late 1970s, so much of my religious instruction was Vatican II mush. I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to understand my faith. I write about that sometimes. I love sports, so you will see some of that as well, although I’d rather not discuss the Packers right now, thank you. I am conservative to libertarian in my politics, so yeah, I’ll write about that, too. And I love music, especially rock and pre-90s r&b, so I’ll write about that. I’m also good for archaic cultural references, but I will keep the Shields & Yarnell jokes to a low roar.
Most of all, I will respect your intelligence. The first thing you learn in writing classes is this: know your audience. I’ve been part of this audience for a long time, so I know this much — smart people congregate here. The internet is chock full of shoddy reasoning and facile argumentation and you don’t have time for that. Neither do I. Shot in the Dark has always been a refuge from the second-rate. And so it shall remain. Glad to be here.
