Ta-Nehisi Coates

Writes movingly, heart-achingly about delayed rage and not being able to process the death of a loved one because of a lack of a spiritual lens that would help to make sense of things, as an athiest.

I'm with you man, I'm with you.

As a fellow atheist (or agnostic) it's hard to know what to do with a senseless death and how to make meaning of it. First I think we must have proper grieving. We rebuild by carrying the principles that our late friend or loved one operated on in our hearts. Try to behave more like they would have and honor them in that fashion. Then comes the reconstruction.

What I am afraid of is that because I am agnostic, that my processing takes longer and has less meaning than others. And rationally, I know this is not true. But in my low days I worry that my lack of communication with God or the gods prevents all my beloved ones who have passed from having the peace that they desire. (Jeez, you know it's bad when ghosts don't even have to guilt you and you do it all to yourself.)

What I have been missing in the blogosphere is Steve Gilliard's angry and moral (because true) voice. I think Nehisi-Coates has that same kinda fire, the same black nerdboy tendencies as Gilliard, not unlike what Junot Diaz wrote in Oscar Wao. It's the kind of voice that I, as an angry Asian American nerd, have been missing in the "mainstream" blogosphere.

So I'm adding him to my blogroll.