What's in a name?

Well today I promised to continue to build the site and post the story behind my blog title. And, now, I deliver, with a new, much more up to date picture of myself, and the answer and a little bit about names.

Names are funny things. We often judge things by their names. However, sometimes our names degrade into an announcement (i.e. sci-fi's Shrink Ray 3000) or get rather silly (i.e. Shrink Ray 3000). Your name can say alot about you. Shortening your name from Ashley to Ash can totally change the way you're viewed dramatically.
For instance, a girl that shortens her name to Ash could be seen as a little "hipper" than the OTHER Ashleys her own age. Or, a dreadfully unlucky boy with unusually cruel parents--whom decide to honor their British heritage by naming their only son Ashley (since Ashley was, in fact, a masculine name several hundred years past)--shortening his name will spare himself some unnecessary grief from bullies in the 6th grade.

So, bearing the importance of a name, and understanding the depth of thought one who knows this importance would put into naming his blog, you may ask, "Why in the world would he call himself 'the sagebrush rebel'?"

That, my dear readers, has several answers. However, first we must discuss, since it is well warranted, history. The Sagebrush Rebellion is  an event in American history; one, sadly, which is not commonly covered in high school--or many college, for that matter- textbooks. Let us migrate to Wikipedia, the internet's most useful and trusted source for information. . . Catch the sarcasm hidden in there? No? Well, moving on.

(from Wikipedia)

The term "Sagebrush Rebellion" was coined during fights over designation of National Wilderness lands, especially in western states, and especially after the National Forest Service (NFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) conducted required surveys of plots of public lands of at least 5,000 acres (20 km²) that were unroaded, after 1972, for potential designation as part of the National Wilderness Preservation Service. This process was known as the Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE, or later, RARE I). The process developed significant opposition by environmental groups and by public lands users, and was challenged in federal court. Results of RARE I were tabled by the courts for lack of uniform criteria for evaluation of lands and other procedural problems, and a second review started in 1977, known as RARE II, involving more than 60 million acres (240,000 km²) of wildland under federal jurisdiction. RARE II was completed in 1979. Controversy, and lack of support from the Reagan administration starting in 1981, largely sidelined a formal, national wilderness assessment. Congress has designated several wilderness areas since 1981, sometimes using data acquired through the RARE processes.

and

Sagebrush rebels is a group that attempted to influence environmental policy in the American West during the 1970s and 1980s, surviving into the 21st century in public lands states (generally, the 13 western states where federal land holdings include 30% to more than 50% of a state's area), and surviving in organized groups pressuring public lands policy makers, especially for grazing of sheep and cattle on public lands, and for mineral extraction policies.

An extension of the older controversy of state vs. federal powers, Sagebrush Rebels wanted the federal government to give more control of government owned Western lands to state and local authorities. This was meant to increase the growth of Western economies. Ronald Reagan declared himself a sagebrush rebel in an August 1980 campaign speech in Salt Lake City, Reagan told the crowd, "I happen to be one who cheers and supports the Sagebrush Rebellion. Count me in as a rebel."[1] Reagan was faced with opposition with conservation organizations. This struggle persists today after changing form, with the "wise use movement" in 1988. George H. W. Bush helped work around restrictive environmental laws to help mining, ranching, and real estate developing industries that created jobs in the states.

So, what does THAT have to do with a young writer/artist/musician in this day and age? Hold your horses. I was getting there.

First of all, I do align with the beliefs of the Sagebrush Rebels of yesteryear. I believe in states right above all else, and strongly believe that states should be able to allocate their own territory to be used as is in the best interest of that state, that there should be less environmental restriction on important industries. However, there is no Sagebrush party, and I don't quite feel comfortable with identifying myself as a member of the Tea Party. So my brand of libertarian conservatism is now to be known, at least to me, as the  philosophy of a Sagebrush Rebel.

Second of all, and the REAL reason behind the name: About a year or so ago, I was trying to get into the folk music scene (which is actually quite non-existent in this area) and wanted to put together a group to perform my compositions. I debated just going by my name, but Clayne Zollinger, III wasn't really a good folk name. And, as I came to decide, I would much rather have a name for the project itself (like the singer-songwriter Sam Bean, who goes by Iron and Wine). I talked to my dad about it, and we came to decide that this political movement, because of its relative anonymity as well as its closeness to my own ideals would be a suitable name for the project. As life went on, this musical endeavor was put on hold to stay warm on the back-burner for awhile. Recently, I played in a local concert and performed one of my acoustic folk songs and, due to my feelings about it, as well as the reaction of the crowd, I decided it was time to begin again on it.

Then, I decided to begin blogging. Using that name seemed an obvious and appropriate choice for the title of my personal blog.

I hope this was informative, and maybe slightly interesting. If it wasn't, I do apologize, and ask that you bear with me through this first week as it will be an introductory time--one for me to get my feet wet in this unfamiliar medium of blogging, and for introducing myself and my plans to the web.