What follows is the transcript of a discussion on my facebook wall regarding the entry 'Belief,' which was posted this morning.  I am posting the transcript from Facebook for archival purposes, and for those reading this site who do not use Facebook. The next post (part 3) will be my response, and would make little sense without this transcript.

I sent this through my work account just now. It makes me angry that such things even have to be said at all.

Welcome to another one of those can't-speak-publicly entries. I can smart off on solecist but cat.net is for thinking. Make no mistake, that is what this entry is -- thinking through keys -- and I write it with a great deal of worry about how it will go over.

I have never stated my religion publicly on this site. There are reasons for that: among other reasons, I am not sure if there's a name for people like me. In cases of religion, I am negative space, more easily defined by what I'm not than what I am.

I'm not Christian.

I know we covered this with breathless abandon over at geek-chick.net, but I couldn't let another day go by without discussing Vanessa Carlton's upcoming album on my site. For those of you who haven't heard, you should take a look at Vanessa Carlton's interview/blurb available at Rolling Stone. Let me start with a choice quote:

"People get uptight about the most bizarre things," Jeff said, nodding, as I showed him the pictures. I agreed.

I'd been zeroing in on a sweet little parking space at the store when the battered blue Dodge had caught my eye. I tossed my car into 'park' after whipping around the row, and had my camera ready before I walked by the car.

While I'm legally allowed to photograph cars, I prefer to do it as inobtrusively as possible.

Those who want to see firsthand evidence of the American love for alternately-spelled words have to look no further than the myriad Southern spellings of the word "barbecue," or the vast creativity that goes into Southern church names.