Too many thoughts, too little time to process

Yesterday, in response to a polite "How are you?" inquiry from a friend I said that I felt like the Peanuts character Pigpen, who always had a cloud of dust around him. Except the dirty cloud is swirling around my head - and it's not dirt - it's mental clutter. Too many thoughts, too little time to process.

Usually I bounce back fairly quickly after the election of a candidate I voted against. Not this time. The outrageous doings of the Bush administration have finally lit the fuse under my butt.

I kept wondering what happened. Why had the Democrats missed the boat? Or maybe we chose a fancy yacht when what we needed was a fleet of tugs. I read What's the Matter with Kansas and got even more depressed. Since when do liberals have no moral values? We can be downright goody-goody.

Then I read Don't think of an Elephant by George Lakoff and the light came on. Liberals DO have moral values; we just don't know how to frame tham and talk about them. They're based on a nurturant parent (mother?) model of family values. This past couple of months I've been obsessed with learning how to recognize right-wing frames, which are based on what Lakoff calls the "strict father model" of family values.

Trying to come up with powerful frames that evoke my progressive values is enormously challenging. As I scrutinize the newspapers, read the progressive blogs (especially those concerned with framing) I've gotten to the point where my head is too full - hence the pigpen effect, and hence this blog.

Perhaps I can inspire you to share the journey with me.