From Leaves of Grass:
The past and present wilt — I have fill’d them, emptied them,
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a
minute longer.)Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
Who has done his day’s work? who will soonest be through
with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too
late?52
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains
of my gab and my loitering.I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Uncle Walty captures the natural and upsetting equivocation that makes me what I am.Here are two articles that touch upon this contradition very deeply.
Andrew Sullivan: My Distraction Sickness – and Yours
And this one as very well,
Journalist’s Toolbox | A Society of Professional Journalists Blog
Charm A companion app for iOS that helps you “organize Tweets into collections, save articles for later, cue up playlists of music you find, or transcribe conversations. You can use it to tell stories, hold on to jokes, capture Tweetstorms and monologues. Charm has features to curate Tweets from events you’re watching, too.”
