fickle fingers of ...

low down on lower case

Why do we all use upper case letters or initial caps (the contrast in the height and shape of letters which often, but not always gives greater meaning to long strings of words and follows the traditional writing conventions)? The lack of capital letters, writing in all lower case letters can be rather liberating – in the poetry of e.e. cummings for example. Or in the typings of a cockroach (the tiny fellow pounding out a scroll of verbage, hunched in front of the garbage can containing a cat sniffing a sardine tin in the illustration above) or friend Peter's e-mails.

Archy and Mehitabel were characters Don Marquis concocted in the early 20th century. Mehitabel was an alley cat who'd seen better days (and lives), who balanced hardship against freedom with independence the victor. Archy (who would have typed "archy"), was a poet, considerably more conservative than Mehitabel and also a cockroach – a "persona extraordinaire" of Mr. Marquis' stories (there was some question of earlier bad karma). As a result of Archy's limited physical capacities, striking the shift bar along with a letter on his office mate Don's typewriter – couldn't be done – limiting Archy's verse to all lower case. If e.e. cummings had extremely short fingers, I really can't say. True – physical restrictions or "special" environments often greatly influence creativity (to those inclined), suggesting Don Marquis had something rather interesting going with insects and/or feral cats. I know a little about this subject myself.

I imagine a laptop would have made composition easier for either a typing cockroach or an e.e. cummings. One ponders the state of literature throughout time if laptops had always existed. Can we trace the source of the blogosphere, in part, to the emergence of the computer which makes it so easy to write as we sit in a recliner? At last count over 70 million blogs are being created/in production/exist. laying in wait to be read. - One can only wonder how many blogs are being composed by decendents or relatives of Archy. If you find a blog in all lower case letters...well, I'd start wondering about the creator (not THE creator...but the blog's creator.)

What does the current outpouring of rhetoric mean when someone as significant as Don Marquis (and with him, Archy and Mehitabel), easily one of the most popular humorists and his creations – have faded so completely from view? The man is credited with over 70 printings of his Archy and Mehitabel books in the U.S. (and he wrote other stuff too), a couple dozen more in G.B. and I had trouble finding 3 to bid on on eBay.

Will the ravings of current bloggers fade as completely? Can or should one hope? Why is culture so fickle? Perhaps a few of those 70 million bloggers truly are cockroaches. Can or should one hope?