I'm not new to the internet. I've been a user since 1993. However, this is my first blog, so I'm going to try things that are new to me, make mistakes and grow in the process. I hope you're along for the ride and that you enjoy it.

First, a few facts:

Name: J.V. (Ain’t givin' my real name out!)

Age: 30-35

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Latino. I'm Mexican & Puerto Rican.

Profession: Teacher.

Politics: My politics (as well as my social and moral views) tend toward the conservative side, with a few areas lying in the centrist area. For example, I'm politically conservative but I don't think we pay enough attention to the environment and that big business gets away with a bit too much (see Enron). I'll elaborate more in the "I Believe" section.

Hobbies: I am a pretty serious movie buff. I watch them all the time and can quote lines verbatim. Ever been to a party where there's one annoying person linking various subjects to movie lines or situations? Well, I'M ONE OF THEM!!! (And proud of it! Damn skippy!)

I also read quite a bit. My taste for reading runs from newspapers, editorials and news magazines to graphic novels (aka comic books. Yeah? What of it?!) to popular fiction to classic literature (Do tragedies get any better than Shakespeare's "Hamlet"?) to nonfiction to the occasional smattering of "artsy" authors like Oscar Hijuelos and Sherman Alexie.

A side note to all you devotees of "artsy" literature: Don't bombard me with emails listing the scores of other authors whose works have a deeper "stench" of art than the authors I've mentioned and how this proves I'm just one of the great unwashed that doesn't deserve to blog and blah, blah, blah, yap, yap, yap. . . I like what I like. You like what you like. Ain't America grand?

This leads me to another point I’d like to make clear. If you take umbrage with anything that I post, you have a couple of options: polite disagreement with followed with healthy discussion or DON'T READ MY BLOG!!! Sheeesh. . .!

WHY THE NAME?
I wish I could say that I was creative enough to come up with that, but it's from an issue of "Spider-Man." I used it here because, well, blogging -- aside from those online support groups -- seems to add up to a whole lot of nothing.

No offense to you bloggers out there, but after you use all this time, effort and computer memory to pitch, yaw, moan, groan and complain about, well, everything, what changes?

A lot of times, blogging reminds me of a line from Shakespeare. To paraphrase, it's full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. So, it's a "whole lotta nada." A whole lot of nothing.

SO WHY DO IT?
For the same reasons, I'm sure, a lot of bloggers do it: to have fun and stretch the creative muscles a bit.

There's also a bit of arrogance involved, and don't you deny it. Why would you blog (or keep a diary/ journal or write stories) if you didn't think the tale you had to tell was worth the telling? If you're one of those types that claim, "I write for the sake of artistic expression! It's art for art's sake!" then I have to say that I don't believe you. If you take hours, days, months or years to craft a story or essay or poem and then spend your spare time getting off on your genius, then there's phrase for what you're doing: mental masturbation. I believe that most people write because they WANT their work to be read by others. This desire may be covert or overt, but it's there.

Let's get right to it, shall we? I believe that the three aims of a writer are to entertain, inform and enlighten. If you're a genius -- a Shakespeare, a Faulkner, a Hemingway -- then you'll consistently hit all three aims and you leave a legacy that will have you remembered long after you're dead. If you're good, you'll hit some but not all. An average writer will hit at least one of these aims and a bad writer won't hit any.

Where am I? Somewhere between average and good, I think. With hard work, I think I could be good. It would take a miracle from GOD to make me great, but I think that's the case with all the great ones.

WHAT YOU'LL GET
My blog will be scattershot and cover a wide variety of topics. Among them are house hunting, film, literature (including comic books. Natch.), politics, a "What I Believe" section, and some personal stuff about my life.

Like I said, this is a first for me, so welcome aboard and happy reading.