Ludicrosity.com was founded in August, 2003 as a political and social blog (weblog) with a generational twist -- the two main contributors, Linda Addis and John Addis, are mother and son, separated not only by age but by different life experiences and beliefs.

Linda Lee Schwab Addis

By 1946, most of our Dads were back from the war, and most of our Moms got pregnant. Thus was I born, a part of the Baby Boomer Generation.

That means wherever I went, I went with a crowd. My schools were so overcrowded they split us into two shifts -- poor teachers had to teach twice as many kids, correct twice as many papers, and work much longer hours without a penny in extra pay! (No wonder the teachers unionized!)

We flooded the colleges, flooded the job markets, flooded the housing, and just sort of pushed our way through everything. Think about it. When the Boomers were old enough to go to war, but too young to vote, they lowered the voting age and ended the war. When the Boomers hit middle-age, everything became maxi-sized: jeans, feminine protection, airplane & movie theatre seats, on and on. Everything we need is produced for us as we need it.

We are a unique generation. Right from the start we had a Champion of Childhood: Dr. Spock. (Not to be confused with Mr. Spock.) For the first time in history, children were supposed to be cherished. Instead of working the farm or in some family business or factury, we were allowed to wallow in childhood innocense as long as possible. Of course that rather backfired when we were told to go to college and taught to think.

And that is where I experienced my most defining moment.

Returning to the dorm after the first day of classes, I had to pass through a group of protesting young black men and fully armored policemen. Just as they froze to watch a little country girl pass through them, the tension grew so thick even a wide-eyed innocent could sense something. And as I stepped upon the dorm porch, the riot began. I turned to watch. There, before my very eyes. I will never never forget that look of horror on the young black man's face as a dog chewed into his arm. And following the dog to leash to contorted face of hate on policeman who was yelling something like "sic 'em" or "kill 'em" or "get 'em". And I have never trusted the establishment since. They lost all credibility to protect, to serve, to care for. There were other moments that taught the same lessons, such as photos of tortured and mutilated bodies a Marine used to send me from the Demilitarized Zone, but nothing stays with a person like the "first".

Since then, I have been a small time reporter, photographer, leather artist and politician. I have worked in restaurants and factories, in busnesses and do-good organizations. I had never really wanted to do anything but be a Mom--which I got to do for 25 years, and loved almost every moment of it. Now, with an empty nest and very little housework, I am taking some fun classes in art. Hey, maybe I could be an artist when I grow up.

John Kennedy Lowell Addis

Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1977, to John Paul Addis and the above lead ludicrosity.com contributor, I pride myself on having led a pretty interesting and varied life thus far, excited to know that the greatest twists and turns are undoubtedly yet to come. Although I have my degree in Music Composition, my full-time career is in web and graphic design, which by its very nature involves an insane amount of online time. During this online time, my ravenous addiction to politics and current events brought me into the world of online "blogging", particularly with Andrew Sullivan, my favorite columnist for over a year now. I've had a personal weblog/journal for years, and had some verrrry early "journalism" experience (which, if you'd like to see embarassing evidence of, you can click here or here), but generally hesitated to offer my own opinions to a "worldwide" audience.

Having always admired my mom's writing abilities which far exceed my own (I told her recently that she had the ability of saying in 100 words what took me at least 500), however, I'd been trying to talk her into an online "blog" for months now, and when she recently had some time off of work with nothing to do, I finally convinced her, with the catch that we embark on the journey together.

I have always defined myself by my creative endeavors. This isn't to say I'm particularly good at most of these endeavors, but at least I have the will to try. In the last few years, I've dabbled in cartooning (http://studentangle.com/), composing, songwriting, filmmaking (http://spartancity.com/), writing, graphic design, photography, and just about anything else I can get my hands on. I'm treating this journal as another extension of experimental creativity, and I hope you'll bare with me as I find a voice and figure out what I'd like to share. (Comments and criticisms would be exceptionally useful, hint, hint.)

<< return to main