and they changed their name to…WHINSEC

this is what hypocrisy looks like
there’s a big, black hole in the center of our universe
this is what democracy can’t fight
Citizens United and the “Fair and Balanced” hatework
the People are divided
and fed misinformation
we’re forced to see democracy
on permanent vacation

wingtips ripped from the freedom of the People
taking flight from the madness of the hateful far-right
is it possible for life to be expression of a love
our bond in spite of difference is our true display of might 

In the letter, my friend explained to me that 8137 spelled my name, Ben, using pieces of the digital numbers. It goes something like this:

Of course, these numbers don’t occur in this pattern naturally on a digital clock. But that’s what struck me about her pointing it out- remember, this was before the advent of the internet in most homes, and even PCs for the common person were not nearly as popular as they are today. Her inspiration came wholly from her mind, so it was really quite clever of her to think up. (I know, it’s silly and really not amazing in any way. I’m from a small town okay? Sheesh.)

After a few years of tossing this around in my mind, it became a bit of a part of my identity. And later, when I decided to start booking bands, I felt it would be a good personalization of my work. Over the years, my goals have evolved into what they are now . And not only for the sake of consistency, but also because I feel that it is consistent with who I am, I have kept the name 8137 Productions, under which I do all of my work. For everything from hosting events to writing to non-profit groups, I will use 8137 Productions as at least a background or encompassing name. Current projects may evolve over time, and you may not see the 8137 moniker anywhere but in the about section in some cases, but it’ll be there. A piece of my youth, and who doesn’t want to keep at least a little something from the good old days? I feel privileged to have had a few “good old days” when I was younger, so 8137 is a bit of a tribute to that appreciation.

As always, I am searching for writers; I’m willing to work out whatever trade-offs would satisfy you to write with me. Here’s a list of some of the subjects I’m going to write about and want others to write about on my blogsites:

Politics- socialist, progressive, anarchist and otherwise non-conservative politics aimed at a pragmatic, non-fundamentalist philosophy (harm reduction). Or, if you have some conservative viewpoints that don’t infer, incur, boil down to or otherwise propagate hate or phobias, be my guest. Any views that aren’t based on hate and negativity towards immutable characteristics or personal choices of orientation are great for the blog.

Harm reduction- how do you use the philosophy of harm reduction in your life? Can you think of ways that it would benefit society?

Atheism- rational approach to reality and the universe, society, politics and policy. See Friendly Athiest for a good blogroll.

Freeware- also open source, shared software, useful solutions, tweaks and hacks; in the spirit of open-source and ‘free as in freedom.’ See Fileguru for some good freeware.

Music and art- everything from hip-hop to metal, punk to indie and everything in-between and outside. Reviews, ideas, recommendations, and whatever else you love to write about

I would love to have posted that as a list; unfortunately, it’s coming out real funky here on WordPress. Not that it’s a bad service, but I am looking forward to getting the paid service on BlueHost I’ve been saving for,  as it has lots of goodies and I’ve heard great things. Anything that improves the quality of experience for my readers is a priority.

So if you would like to collaborate, let’s work something out! Contact me at 8137productions@gmail.com and we’ll get something rolling. Otherwise, stay posted, subscribe to the blog feed in the column to the right, or find me on Facebook at  http://companies.to/8137productions.

I’m L. Benjamin Fenton, and you should call me Ben. This WordPess blog in particular is the 8137 Productions Blog Project titled “Alpha”– “Alpha” being the experimental title. Or perhaps, the title of an experiment. Really, I’m doing this blog to get experience with this style of writing/posting, as well as to develop relationships with readers and other bloggers.

I plan to run three or more sites under the 8137 Productions moniker; in the background, I will be running this personal blog, featuring a journal of my progress as a blogger, as well as many other topics such as music, computers, political and social issues, freeware lists and blogrolls, and much more. Oh, and if you have a problem with people of color or a woman’s right to choose, you probably won’t like me.

I intend to create a very exciting and interesting forum-meets-blog that will have unique features and an awesome philosophy of conduct.  I haven’t purchased domain names or copyrighted the concepts so I won’t be naming or describing it in much detail here.What I can tell you is that it will be exciting for persons (hopefully you, dear reader) who would love to have a community and forum in which people of differing social, political, cultural and other attitudes and persuasions can come together to converse, dissent and have discourse without the rampant hostility that is so characteristic of internet forums and blog comment-discussions. I have thought of a number of ways to host this environment without having to censor or control the discourse. A site like that is something that I have pined for and had absolutely no luck discovering on the internet; of course any suggestions of existing sites are welcome. I (humbly) feel that my particular ideas on this topic are worth pursuing and if nothing else, I will have a great time applying myself to the site. That’s the goal- to work my ass off and love (almost) every minute of it. If you would like to follow my progress and join in that community when I- hopefully it will be “we”- build it, just keep visiting this blog, subscribe to the RSS feed in the right-hand margin, or contact me at 8137productions@gmail.com.

I do plan on starting out with free hosting, then when I build the new site I will use paid web hosting, then later working my way into hosting on my own. For the time being, I want to pour my energy and creativity into the design and content, as opposed to using that energy for learning the technical self-hosting stuff. I have a lot to offer, and I know that I will put out some quality work in the coming months. I aim to earn my readers’ trust and confidence by offering quality, meaningful content.

Lastly, I do want to say that the purpose of this endeavor is to get to a point to where I can, at least partly, support myself by working hard at something that I love. But more than that, I want to make a living doing something that will make a positive difference. I think that once I can take care of myself financially, doing something that I love, I will be able to make a substantial contribution to the society in which I live. Often, I find myself overwhelmed by the sheer bigotry, the homophobia, the chauvinism, the ethnic and racial fear and hatred, which seethes in the fringes- and often enough, in the mainstream- in Western and global society. It’s a big world, and I don’t expect to save it. I do expect to touch a few more lives than I have yet, and I’m willing to sacrifice to do it.

If you want to get on my mailing list, write to 8137productions@gmail.com. I only send out a weekly digest, unless I do any sort of product launch- I may do two a week in that case. But I won’t spam!