Folded thought of the day:

Whew!  We've had a busy few days reading various New Year's Eve 
plans from the Folded community.  From watching the last sunset 
of 1999 to greeting the first sunrise of 2000, from elaborate 
plans with friends and family to modest and cozy nights at 
home, from the inspirational and humbling spirit of giving 
displayed by D. Martin and others, I'd say we've got a pretty 
diverse and special group of people who dwell down here.  

There have been some rumblings to have people send in their 
New Year's resolutions.  Now, I'm not a big fan of these 
but I don't want to stand in the way.  So, if you've got 
a New Year's resolution you'd like to share please send 
it in.  I find that people rarely keep their resolutions 
so I've become jaded.  In this spirit, maybe we should 
list our "Anti-Resolutions" -- plans that we don't want 
to keep in the coming year.

I could get into this.  So, here's a partial list of 
The Daily Editor's New Year's Anti-Resolutions:

I resolve to make Below the Fold less intimate and 
more exclusive.. to make it more "edgy" -- like 
those cool zines you see online that seem like one
big inside joke between three people (all with goatees 
and navel rings no doubt).  I resolve to make its 
content less relevant to what it means to be a person 
living in this world and have it be more esoteric 
and hip.  

I resolve to demand less of myself and others.  I plan 
to fill the void left by this resolution by resolving 
to spend many hours watching "Must-See TV."

I resolve to defer to the judgement of others.. to 
purchase at least one item of clothing that could 
be defined as fashionable.. to stop talking to 
people that look outside the norm.. to develop 
many intimate and meaningful friendships with 
people with perfect hair.. to walk down the beaten 
path and stay away from the back alleys.. to take 
all the relationships in my life for granted.. to 
listen to Top 40 radio stations and learn all the 
words so I can sing along.. to stop making people 
uncomfortable on the streets by talking to myself 
and singing old blues songs.. to be less critical 
of people who seem completely self-absorbed and 
caught in their own mean, judgmental, materialistic 
soul-less worlds.. 

I resolve to spend more hours in gourmet coffee 
shops writing in my journal, sipping expensive 
coffee and fewer hours in dark rooms lit by candles 
and old light fixtures built into the wall, scribbling 
on whatever scraps of paper I have available.  

I resolve to begin treating women as less than 
equals.. to start looking for differences between 
various races.. to value privilege and position 
over human dignity.. to stop rooting for the 
longshot.. to hide my tears and stop my bleeding.  

I resolve to develop more relationships that will 
serve a purpose and fewer that offer nothing more 
than genuine human connection.  

I resolve to be more tolerant of people who act 
cruel towards others.. to laugh at jokes whose 
intention is to hurt and/or demean a person or 
group of people, present or not.  

I resolve to save energy by realizing that my
way of viewing the world is the right way and 
shutting myself off to other viewpoints.

I resolve to become more aloof and therefore 
develop a persona that will be perceived as 
"cool."  

I resolve to stand by idly while someone acts in 
ways harmful to me or tries to hurt somebody 
I care about.  I resolve to not help a mother 
carry her baby carriage up the steps of the 
subway station.. to think I'm above those people 
whose throats are being crushed by the unrelenting 
grip of poverty.. to cross the street when I see 
a suffering person in my path.. to support all 
attempts to cover up the graffiti of struggle..

And, for my final New Year's Anti-Resolution, 
I resolve to stop offering a window into my 
soul through my eyes and the words I share and 
the connection I make available.  

Now, please raise a glass and join me in 
vowing to NOT honor any of these resolutions.