Why

Why am I starting a blog, and why is it called PublicPulse?

I live in West Michigan where the primary newspaper is the Grand Rapids Press. The Press is a decent publication with a very conservative attitude reflecting the community it serves. West Michigan is a Bible Belt of sorts, dominated by Christian Reform Protestants but with a wide range of Catholics, Baptists, Pentacostals and non-denominationals thrown in. It's red politically; really, really red.

The Public Pulse is the letters section of the Grand Rapids Press and is one of the more interesting parts of the paper. Threads can persist for weeks, particularly if the subject is pro-life. The problem is that the Press only allows people to submit one letter every three months, so if you are routinely pissed off about politics, community affairs or life in general you have to bottle it up, or ration your pissed-offedness for the big issue that deserves your once a quarter hit.

So I have found myself writing a lot of letters to the editor that never get sent and live only on my hard drive. With the origin of this blog, they will get to live on someone else's hard drive.