Reading (and often writing) the footnotes

I like a good, straightforward narrative plot. But - at the same time - the footnotes fascinate me. (And by "footnotes" I mean any aside or parenthetical remark that stops the flow of the narrative/argument to offer additional information or comment.) Part of me wants to "read" quickly from start to finish. And an equally important part of me must stop to explore the comments and explanations and "referrals" that find themselves attached to the act of "reading."

Mostly, I suspect I have a fascination with words and the various contexts in which I find them. Sometimes it's a fascination with the context in which I place them and the conversations in which I get to participate. I'm an extrovert, so the conversations in which I'm engaged are often public and sometimes a little disjointed. And I always seem to be looking for the (apparantly random/serendipitous) word(s) that will engender the next train of (possibly productive) thought.

I write for many of the same reasons as I talk. Most jobs in academic life (including mine) demand some measure of both writing and speaking. Sometimes people invite me to speak as a scholar or a minister; sometimes I am invited to write in one/both of those roles.

Sometimes I feel inspired (or bemused, depending on one's perception). And, for whatever reason, I am willing to consider the possibility that some might be interested in reading what I have written. This is the context I will most often choose for those words, and you have (wittingly or not) landed on the "spot." Some of you - I'll confess - I have invited to the "spot," in the hopes that we might continue conversations begun in another context, and some of you receieved an invitation just because you have flattered me in the past by suggesting that you enjoyed something I wrote or said. The rest of you are welcome, too, for as long as you care to "read" and write.

I'm just enough of an optimist to hope that we will all profit from the conversation(s).