The Ludington Torch: The Genesis Revealed, One Year Later

[XLFD]

You may have wondered why this social networking site is called the "Torch".  With all the other fine names out there, why did Torch make it through the final cut.  Here's the story behind that.

A few names had been considered before the present name prevailed.  The Ludington Citizen, Patriot, and words synonymous with conversations were all weighed and found wanting.  At the time, I was among a small group of people who were not fully satisfied with Ludington Talks, yet could not contribute freely to Lakeshore Soup without offending the administrative stance they adopted over time.

Since the main impetus for starting a new site was to provide an alternative to the directions the existing local Ning sites were going, we wanted something bold and fresh.  Soup is made up primarily of water, and a torch is primarily fire, and they don't mix well.  But this was only a minor consideration in the eventual naming.

My previous job as a firefighter would seem to be another reasonable guess.  I had witnessed the aftermath of a few fires started by careless use of candles, campfires, etc.  Fire was my business, and when I resigned from the LFD, I was seriously hot and smoldering with certain local figures in government, and that fire still burns to this day, continuously kindled with the fuel of corruption.  But again, this was a minor consideration of choosing the torch.

The torch is symbolic of several things.  The Greeks held it as a symbol of life and truth, and when the Olympics were held the torch was a symbol of the harmony and goodwill which represented the ideals of the Olympic Games.  We strive for truth,  the good life, and promote goodwill, but this still wasn't the primary origin of the torch in our name.

The Statue of Liberty's torch symbolizes enlightenment. The torch is to metaphorically light the way to liberty. Consistent with the symbolism of the torch, the Statue's full and official name is the "Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World."  I wish to be enlightened and to help enlighten others, but still this isn't the main reason the torch is our mascot.

In Atlas Shrugged, which is philosophically close to my ideals,  Ellis Wyatt destroys his own oil fields by setting fire to them, and the fires continue to burn night and day. Wyatt's Torch, as the huge flame comes to be known, symbolizes his unwillingness to sanction and participate in the looters' system or to offer them any useful resources for them to drain. The flame is a powerful symbol of individualism and the refusal to surrender the mind.  A powerful statement, but I had not even read the book at that time, or knew the reference.

The Main Reason:

In the preceding months of when the Ludington Torch was founded, I had watched primarily the first eight seasons of "Smallville" on CD with the family.  The high school newspaper at Smallville was called the "Smallville Torch", and it had a good ring to it.  And that's why I went on to call this site "The Ludington Torch".  True story.

 

 

[Dave]

So we have Superman to blame... who would of thunk it?

[Edie Lindsey]

Congratulations on the anniversary.  Don't race any locomotives!   I only have a short time here to offer my best wishes for the next year and drop off a thread.

[AQUAMAN]

Ayn Rand did something similar in her book, The Fountainhead. Here, a struggling and starving architect, Howard Roarke, a man with monumental talent for designing buildings with vision into the future, was blantantly crtiticized and humiliated for not being forced by clients to copy the standard architecture of many previous centuries, like most all his comtemporaries were doing all over the country. Roarke worked on a plan for low income housing for the masses, that was very economical to build, accomplishing what many others before him could never do for decades. A college buddy of Roarke's was given the task to design these, but knew he had no real talent to do so. He begged Roarke to help. Roarke agreed to remain without any pay, and without any credit or name recognition,  if his plans could accomplish the goal of the developers. The only payment Roarke wanted was for his designs to be left totally intact and alone from being changed in any way. Doing otherwise, would destroy the value of the self, of self worth, and the self to conquer new horizons, the value of individualism for it's own sake of purity. Naturally, the plans were accepted, and the college buddy got all the credit, but the developers insisted on changes in the design. When the building went up before Roarke's very eyes, he was devastated, hurt, and betrayed. The developers had done just what he had fought against all his life. They stole his mind, and work, then molded it into their own vision of beauty. Well, during the final phases of construction, Roarke took dynamite to the work site, and blew up the buildings, totally destroying the project. For the cool ending, read the book. Or see the movie made in the 50's which was also excellent.                                                                                                                                          Many others have tried to change and ridicule the course of this forum, in hopes their grand design on our threads, our freedoms of opinion, our insistance on truths and freedom preservation, would be sadly put aside. To be more like other copied talk forums. Where there is no freedom of thinking and debate. No preservation of the self, and respect for that way of life.                           Congratulations, Ludington Torch, after many said we would flop and be dissolved shortly after starting one year ago, here we are, more members, and stronger than ever in our philosophy and convictions to stay the course. And many happy returns for the future. AQ