How did this site come into being?

Well, to be precise - I wrote it. More precisely, I composed it on my computer, after having thought of it in my mind for a bit.

I was walking home today (April 15, 1999 - Tax Day, among other things), when I finally got around to considering one of my term papers. Actually, I had been considering one such paper on Gypsies and Jews, which led me - for some reason - to consider the academic (especially literary-critical) process and the worth of my endeavors (something which often concerns me and invades my thoughts).

Among other things, I realized that I am often thinking of things. Rarely do I have pen and paper available (or a handy computer at hand) - these thoughts run through my mind, get formulated, and then disappear once I move on to something else; perhaps they stick around a bit sub-consciously and pop back up from time to time, but the truth is - must be - that once I have thought something, that thought (as I thought it) is gone - perhaps reflection destroys it, perhaps it is merely that our concept of a unified self is an illusion.

In any case, I decided that instead of putting too much effort into my "Random Thoughts", "Caustic Comments", "Randecdotes", "Verbose Venting", etc., I should perhaps do something a bit more "free" in form, a bit more true to the possibilities or hypertext. Such a project would, naturally, still be "formed", even if I were to pretend that it was loose and open; such thoughts of creating something original and/or "new" were not running through my mind. These pages are for me, but not for me alone.

As of yet, there is no comprehensive index for this set of pages - nor shall there be.