This phrase, "The Unlikeliest Place," has been stuck in my head all day. I was under some pressure to come up with some neat little log-in name for the student intranet at the University of Oklahoma, where I’ve just enrolled. Nothing came to mind, and I was feeling all haughty and hyper-creative, which usually means I’ll come up with crap, but I just couldn’t countenance using my name. I mean, how boring. Anyway, I was thinking of a short phrase to sum up my life, and I started thinking about how I keep finding grace, and wonder, and trouble, in the most unexpected places. So it was either "The Unlikeliest Place," or "Jose Cuervo." And since I don’t really have time for an intervention these days, what with the holidays, and school, I figured we’d better go with TUP. The last time I tried a blog, some people came along a month into it and tried to make me pay. But I don’t hold that against them, because it was at my favorite website, Salon.com. So why am I doing this? Mostly, to be cool. But also, because I am beginning a graduate program that is going to teach me how to be an honest-to-God writer, and since I feel like such a hack most of the time, I need a place where I can force myself to write daily, and also a place where I’ll not be getting a grade for what I write. Granted, I’ve got my column over at gaychristian.net, but there are things you just can’t say in a ministry setting like that, and as of late I’ve been effectively censored from using some of the strong language of which I’m so fond. Which is fine, I understand the purpose behind that, but it’s gotta come out somewhere, and it’s better here than in my frequent road rages. Also, this will be a place where I can share stuff I’m wanting to throw out there – because I’m flirting with poetry again (erg), and with a few new book ideas, and even some new projects, like plays, screenplays, etc. But also, I love to write about other stuff – philosophy, music, my deep love for Joss Whedon and cashmere scarves. There are some things I don’t often talk about with people – things like theology, and sex, and the reason I hate hate HATE HATE reality television and blame it for most of our culture’s creative deficit. This will, on occasion, be a place for me to be angry, because, let’s face it, I’m an angry little gay man. Sometimes you will have the privilege of me editing my entries before I post them. Sometimes, you will not. I hope, somewhere in all my questioning and anger, I find and share hope in God, because that’s really what I’m seeking. Mostly, this is an exercise in self-indulgence. Many blogs are. But maybe, at some point, I’ll come up with something actual to say. Wouldn’t that be just amazing?