Mission Statement

To be quite sure, I decided to create this blog spot on a whim one spring Thursday night, while preparing my income tax return. As I sat at my desk contemplating and belaboring the mounds of receipts and files, I reminisced of evenings spent sipping fine wines after dinner with a loved one.

Then it dawned on me: life (in the sense of "living") is marked by simple pleasures--preferably shared--that many take for granted. Those who develop affinities, tastes and preferences for simple things will experience beauty and joy. Those experiences ultimately serve to sublimate mere living. Examples include listening to good music, immersing one's self in a great work of literature, preparing fine cuisine, and course tasting and drinking wine.

I dedicate this blog to Dionysus, and the oenological heritage symbolized by him--a heritage whose beginnings marked the dawn of civilization. But this is not a blog dedicated exclusively to wine. It is dedicated to all those simple and sublime experiences that mark brief moments and make life worth living.

Finally, in keeping with the title of the blog, I want to engage bloggers in critical discussion on a wide number of topics: politics, world news, philosophy, literature, economics--anything that inspires opinion or a strong view. I don't want to be taken for a whiner, but a grievance or expression of dissatisfaction with something or someone is a good way to start such a discussion.

-The Winer