Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog.

This is my way of trying to understand the existence of cruelty, atrocity and torture. Sorry to darken the mood, but it's an issue that will always be with us, and I fear that it's not being taken as seriously as it needs to. My blog will keep up you updated on the various ideas and theories concerning why we do we what we do to each other.

I am currently working on a book with the working title "How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Torture." Of course, I'm ripping off the subtitle to Kubrick's Dr. Strangeglove. I'm not one for cleverness, but in this case I don't know of any other way to express my feelings concerning cruelty, atrocity and torture unless I sift them through an arch vision--a vision that seeks out hope and light, but not at the expense of sentimentality.

You should know that I'm a Catholic male. I'm twenty-nine years old. I was married in October to a lovely woman named Jessica. She's a writer too. Both of us are contributors to Godspy magazine (godspy.com) and we are both dedicated to using our God given talent and time to better understand and deepen our faith through our art.

I have an MFA in creative writing from the University of Pittsburgh. My BA is from the University of Notre Dame. I've written a book titled A Good War is Hard to Find. It's available through me and through my publisher (brettyasko.com). The book is as much visual as it is literary. Images of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal surround the text and ask the reader to consider the way images both implicate us and change us.

I'm working now on an expanded version of the original book. This new book will take up atrocity and torture in a broader way. I'm writing not only about the torture happening "over there" but also the cruelty happening right here in America.

This blog will be way of clearing the air, testing my thoughts. In short, the blog is one continuous essay. Essay comes from a French root meaning "an attempt." That's all I can promise, an attempt at understanding.

Keep in touch,

Dave Griffith