Wednesday, March 5, 2008

In Memorium


"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."
- 1 Corinthians 15:42-43

I could write today about Ohio and Texas. I could write about the triumph of mudslinging and underhanded campaigning. I could write about Hillary's bizarre fantasy that she is now winning and Obama is on the ropes... but the bottom line is that nothing changed yesterday. For Hillary to have a prayer, she needed to have an overwhelming victory in both Ohio and Texas. The vote was so evenly split that the delegate deficit didn't change. Obama has the next two primaries locked up, and Clinton's only hope (I use that term respectful of the fact that she prefers her title as the Anti-Hope candidate) is to start converting superdelegates already promised to Obama.

It isn't that such a task is impossible, but it does seem to display a certain sense of naivety about how the system works; it shows a certain ignorance or immaturity that I frankly find troubling in a presidential candidate. I get the feeling I've heard these charges elsewhere...

I could write a whole blog about these things, but I turn my attention instead to the passing of a man who few Americans have ever heard of. His name is E. Gary Gygax, and he invented a game that has been played by 20 million Americans. In some ways, his creation of Dungeons and Dragons in 1974 was the last pure incarnation of an art that has been the lifeblood of human culture since history was first recorded: the art of storytelling. In an era of sanitized personal relationships and remote interaction through the web, his games continue to bring friends together for an imaginative, collaborative, and personal process of storytelling.

I never met the man, but for all those who've enjoyed the worlds he helped create, there is some sense of loss today upon hearing of his death. E. Gary Gygax died in his home at Lake Geneva, WI at the age of 69.

Sites for Gygax:
Obit
History of his work

Sites for Primary results:
Analysis of March 4th Primaries
Hillary Tactics