I Am Spartacus

"I am not trying to pull a FinalSin" he says, a courteous nod towards these very pages, "[but] here is a thought I've stolen from the great scholar, Joe Roth." It is a subtle hint to my articles and thoughts that makes me smile and read on, watching him open himself up, throw away the facade of the omniscient editor-in-chief and expose the bare truth of a writer, eager to develop both himself and his audience. I smile. I nod. I begin an email telling him how right he is and then... Well then the point of his article hits me. Cher (of all people) said this - "I can trust my friends. These people force me to examine myself, encourage me to grow." And as my eyes drift across those lines where he admits how 'hypocritical' he may have seemed, or how hollow he may sound to someone who reads only him alone, that is the moment when he fulfils his duty as a friend. Consciously. Subconsciously. I examine myself and I find the same fault. And thus, in an ironic twist, to the article I am now writing. I am, as you may be aware by now, going to 'pull a Mufkin'. I don't have much to say, really. Phoenix Publishings is about to have its second set of articles put up - this time from an even wider range than before, across a broader topic band. What I write here, however pleased I might be with it, is the thinnest slice from the journalism cake that makes up Phoenix Publishings. The long words, the extravagant metaphors, the use of words like 'extravagant' - they are nothing more than my contribution, my feelings, my part in the bigger picture. And so, as the army-like mob that is the general public bears down on the meagre group of writers that creates Phoenix Publishings, I feel there is nothing else to do but to stand up with Mufkin too. Yes, I want to entertain you. Yes, I want to make you think. Yes, I can't do it on my own. I am Spartacus.