Reflections on five years of Precipice

I think the mission gets refined with each post

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The actual date of the launch of Precipice was December 18, 2019. I’m doing this anniversary post today because, well, I’m not sure I’ll be able to muster the requisite reflectiveness in thirteen days. In a world such as ours, who knows what might be occupying our attention by then?

I stand by what I said in that first post, “Allow Me To Introduce Myself.” I can see how it could use some fleshing out, given the range of subjects I’ve made recurrent themes here, something I discussed in a post from April of this year, “Let Me Show You Around,” aimed at new readers and subscribers during a period of uptick in those numbers.

I can see that there’s been sort of a growing-up-in-public aspect to this undertaking. When I began it, I was still church-shopping, as well as sorting out some theological fine points I felt I needed to get clear on. Now, I’m a recently elected deacon at the church where I found a home about three years ago.

As I said in “Show You Around,” it wasn’t long after getting Precipice going that I started branching out from the principle theme of standing on the Narrow Sliver of Terrain. (If you’re a newbie, use the search function to check out the myriad post titles containing that phrase.)

But as did so, I was driven by the intuition of a unifying thread to it all. When I’ve written, say, a praise of old-school fried-fish joints, or the history of the American breakfast cereal industry, I was looking for an entry point into an examination of layers of the social fabric that could provide insights into the broader themes Precipice explores.

And I am, by academic background and profession, an historian. Due to a formation process that precedes my academic pursuits, I am equally interested in the study of popular and highbrow culture. I’m particularly interested in how they have managed coexistence over the course of our nation’s growth, and how that has impacted broader arenas, such as education, economics and world affairs.

For example, I’m particularly proud of a post from July of this year titled “The Two Great Northern Migrations of the Early 20th Century,” and subtitled “One Gave Us Country Music, One Gave Us The Blues; Both Provided a Steady Stream of Factory Workers.”

Occasionally I’ve considered that Precipice might grow faster if what I’m up to here were more easily shaped into a brand. Maybe my brand is something like Boomer-looking-at-70-searching-for-a-reason-to-hope-in-a-civilization-that-has-been-going-off-the-rails-since-his-early-childhood.

But then there arises the countervailing worldview that points out the various times and places prior to my existence in which human life has been simply unbearable.

But in a way, that bolsters my assertion about things going off the rails. American exceptionalism was an actual thing until recent times. We really were the shining city on the hill. True, people still pour over our porous southern border in search of economic opportunity not to be found elsewhere, but they’re not going to find much institutional support, public or private, for their family values or deeply held faith. And cultural enrichment? Forget about it.

I suppose a reflection like this ought to include at least a cursory look at how the world has changed since this site’s beginning.

It was shortly after the launch that the world was dealing with the COVID epidemic. I wrote about that some, trying to encourage the extending of grace, as the measures society took regarding it forced most of us indoors for the better part of a year. I still, even now that I can see that Fauci et al took pretty heavy-handed - indeed, unnecessary - measures to address it. Was I being a squish? I hope it was an effective instance of not jumping on any bandwagon while all kinds of pertinent facts were not yet in evidence. A lot of people formed mobs - both figuratively and literally - in reaction to the shutdown, either railing against it or fiercely defending it. (Remember “Just wear the mask”?) I was more concerned with the question of how the whole thing might be an opportunity to demonstrate grace, but that trait was so out of fashion that I was a voice in the wilderness.

Then that summer came the highest of the periodic peaks of racial tension in recent years. People now use George Floyd as shorthand for the whole thing, but there were some other high-profile instances of police-citizen interactions that added (literally) fuel to the fire. There was the guy at the Wendy’s drive-through in Atlanta. Remember him? A cop approached his car at the drive-through window and found him asleep. The guy woke up, and they had a mutually respectful conversation about the guy’s kid’s birthday party at a nearby residence. All was going well until the guy made a move that was an obvious attempt to flee. There were others that summer.

And here’s an observation that maybe won’t draw the kind of vitriol it did in 2020 (believe me, I know): To a person, all those guys had records including violent crime and drugs. None were in stable relationships or family arrangements.

Yes, George Floyd was murdered. But I’ll assert to the end of my days that it is not irrelevant that he once held a gun to pregnant woman’s belly during an armed robbery. It’s important primarily because post-American society instantly made him into a folk hero.

And that is a phenomenon we’ve seen manifested in other ways. Consider how the Very Stable Genius and MAGA are going to ridiculous lengths to defend the lineup of clowns the VSG has appointed to various cabinet positions.

We lionize people whom we perceive to be repositories of what we stand for (and they’re usually not) when they come under attack by those who stand for the opposite. Think about it. It amounts to making a virtue out of victimhood.

Then came 2021, and my summer of MRSA. I’d had a hip replacement in May, and recovery was going well, but about three weeks afterward, I was felled by a bout of bad chills, which led to weeks draped over my recliner, and getting up only to head down the hall to the bathroom to vomit. I wrote about it some - when I wrote. Posts got a little sparse for a while.

I’ll refer again, as I am wont to do with some frequency, to the “About” page here at Precipice. The main point I was making there is that I’m resolved to keep searching for reasons to hope. Perhaps a fool’s errand, but I know it’s a noble one, and an increase in the sum total of nobility in the world is desperately needed.

That, and the aforementioned grace.

A brief snapshot of the lay of the land this very morning bears this out.

Not only was the CEO of United Healthcare gunned down in front of the midtown Manhattan Hilton two days ago, there are already expressions of glee about it from those who hate- yes, hate - the health insurance industry.

(The problems with the health insurance industry are by and large due to government involvement, and that probably warrants a posts of its own soon.)

Russia has test-fired hypersonic missiles in the eastern Mediterranean. Assad’s regime in Syria is teetering, with HTS rebels taking such major cities as Aleppo and Hama, and now breathing down the neck of Homs. The International Criminal Court has shown the world that it is an ideological sewer with its arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. North Korea is providing shells and soldiers to Russia in the latter’s ongoing rape of Ukraine.

There are the aforementioned clowns Trump has appointed to cabinet positions. Yes, I know Pete Hegseth went to Princeton and also distinguished himself in the Army, but the guy has five kids by three different women, and both his divorces were over infidelity. More to the point, Pete is going around to Senators’ offices, swearing he won’t touch a drop of alcohol while serving as Defense Secretary. Why is that necessary?

I feel good about where Precipice is at age 5. The mission remains the same, and I think I’m getting the hang of refining that mission with each post.

How about you? What are your thoughts on the direction of this site? I’d be beyond delighted to hear from you about it.

And, yes, I’d love it if you’d upgrade to a paid subscription, and consider giving them as Christmas gifts.

I am a professional writer. In addition to Precipice, which is far and away the writing activity most important to me, I’m a regular contributor to local magazines focused on business, lifestyle and agriculture. I contribute to The Freemen News-letter and Ordinary Times when inspiration strikes me. I’m always look for opportunities to expand.

But I am not a rich man. I supplement my writing income with my work as adjunct faculty at Indiana University and occasional gigs as a jazz guitarist, but my household doesn’t live in luxury.

If you feel this is important work happening here, consider supporting it. I still maintain that, as I say on the “About” page, “I invite you to join me on a journey, a search for genuinely solid ground, on which we can plant our feet and not feel perilously close to free fall. If our toes are truly gripping the edge of the precipice, is there time for such a search? I’d argue that there is no other sensible use of our time.”