I started this blog at the outset of a trip I took in 2006. I went to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan to report, as best I could, on the aftermath of a war that (years later) isn't quite over. Those experiences still color my work as a writer and comprise a significant portion of my efforts to be engaged with the world.

Since then, this site has shifted beyond the scope of regional acrimony. I've aimed to write about the things that I, for some reason or another, take note of in my daily amblings. The trust fund is not physically real, but the theme is real: emblematic of an entitlement to write about what I want and to be an authority on nothing in particular.

Thank you for stopping by.

An excerpt from Chess for Beginners by U.S. Open Chess Champion I.A. Horowitz:

“The point that seems worth stressing is that the treatment of opening play is based here on ideas and methods, rather than on memorizing this or that variation. If you have a fair idea of what to achieve in the opening stage, you can follow a specific variation with real understanding.”

At the risk of conceding too much shaming information about my personal hobbies, I invoke beginner’s chess because of how contest applies to conflict.

In all the elections and debates and speeches, we use the language of battle and contest to clarify who is winning, losing, when the gloves are coming off, when we’re microcosms of a greater yearning…or….not. People need to know the score and the liberals need to find the underdogs so they can root for them (oh snap! it’s so early!).

But for this particular opening play, I am pledging to try to bring ideas and methods to the conversation. There is more to chess and contest and conflict than the repetition of strategies. Otherwise, we’re just devoid of our thinking faculties.

What does all this mean? I’m not really sure. Part of it is that I want to find out. I am committing myself to trying. I’m hoping that the lessons are within reach.

Welcome…to the Trust Fund.

TrustfundReporting.com is not just a site for news and analysis, it is commentary for the winsome spirits, the faint pulse of the political zeitgeist, each youthful denizen of our time's awkward chaos.

Here, the inner-monologue of the site's titled (unspoken) demographic will be housed with its biases and inhibitions unabashedly noted, emblematic not of widely-shared beliefs, but perhaps a microcosm of a greater yearning...

(laughter)

At this point, I am interrupted by my sister Amelia, listening to this filth as I read it to her aloud and like a great big sister should, she laughs at me.

2006