My wife posted a link to a great essay by Umberto Eco regarding Facism on her blog today. It's an easy read and enlightening in many ways (especially when you consider many of Obama's critics claim he is a facist). That being said, point number three seems to be the philosophy du jour in America today.  As people decry a liberal elite that doesn't exist, one line from Eco's piece jumped out at me:

Thinking is a form of emasculation

I've been thinking about writing more. When I say that, I don't mean that I'm considering putting the pen to page more. I mean that I've been thinking about the act of writing more, about writers, about books and magazines and blogs and words. Surprisingly, as part of all of this I noticed that I'm using pens less. I don't know if I can chalk it up to anything but I've been using pencils more and more on a daily basis. I'm not erasing more, I'm enjoying how they feel in my hand. I've liked how they mark a page and change as you use them more. Yesterday I wrote about media moving to new delivery channels, residing online. Yet today I'm feeling romantic about the pencil.