About One and Four

One and Four is the personal weblog of Alex Koroknay-Palicz. After much prodding I have given in to this crazy blog phenomenon and started my own. My prime concern here will be youth rights, as its the subject I know best and have the most concern for. However when moved, I do plan to cover important issues and controversies of the day, and occasionally just to bore you all with details and discoveries of my personal life. In light of my role with the National Youth Rights Association, I urge all readers to separate my thoughts here from official NYRA policy. Especially on political issues that are beyond the scope of NYRA.

As many may be curious as to the origin of the title, allow me to explain. I wanted a title/theme that would be unique and would address my political beliefs and youth rights passion. However since my political beliefs are unique and uncategorized enough to avoid any easy label or title I had to go to conceptual art, Plato, and the 2004 election to attempt one. A great example of my political ambiguity came with the 2004 Presidential election where forum regulars at the NYRA Forums were attempting to guess my political leanings and I posted a picture of my front yard with a yard sign for Bush, Kerry, Badnarik and Cobb, telling them I was voting for the candidate whose sign was in my yard. While I did ultimately decide on one of them to vote for, I think the picture is telling for describing the diversity of my political beliefs. All four candidates represent some part of my ideals, but none truly capture it all.

One of my favorite art pieces is One and Three Chairs by Hungarian-American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth. In the work, he produces a visual representation of Plato's concept of The Forms. The piece features a physical chair, a photograph of the chair, and a dictionary definition of the word "chair". All are understood to be chairs, and according to Plato all are mere copies of the universal, abstract 'form' of the chair. I don't pretend to be a philosophy or metaphysics expert, but I thought it was a neat concept and piece.

Applying this concept to my political leanings led me to come up with One and Four. All four of those yard signs/candidates are a rough copy and rough imitation of my true political beliefs. Each represent one part of the overriding philosophy, but each fails to fully represent my one cohesive set of beliefs. Borrowing the concept of One and Three Chairs, I describe this as One and Four.

Youth rights is covered by the title too. Society creates and enforces four age divisions in humanity - childhood, adolescence, middle-age, and old age. Each have distinctive roles and life challenges yes, but all are part of one humanity. Each phase is a part of the same person, and its time we start breaking down these artificial barriers and expectations of each group.

About Me

I grew up in Holland, Michigan and came to the DC area when I attended American University. Now out of college, I live in the Maryland 'burbs. I am President and Executive Director of the National Youth Rights Association. Youth rights is my passion, and my calling. I'm not one dimensional however, I do like politics, football, and am learning to play guitar. In my capacity as NYRA President I have appeared on CNN, Fox News, ABC Broadband, and National Public Radio. Plus I've been quoted in dozens of papers including the LA Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Boston Globe.

Contact

I can be reached at AKPalicz <_a.t> youthrights d.ot org.