FlakMag has an essay up which discusses the role hobbies or "enthusiasms" play in the construction of personal and social identities for many, particularly men, under late captialism. The author Patrick Quirk divides enthusiasm into two stages, level one, where said enthusiast begins acquiring equipment and engaging in the hobby, and level two, which leads to compulsive acquisition and self-criticism. I can certainly relate the article to my own bicycle-mania: I actually bought two bicycles during my freshman year of college. Shoot, I bought three bikes in the course of the calendar year. Quirk compares acute level-two enthusiam to jail, and imagines performing an intervention for a cyclist he sees in a coffeeshop:
That said, this is the 400th entry on the ol' Infobong. I wonder if I've descended into level-two blog enthusiam?
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