Welcome to my 900th blog post. Dress is casual.
Allow me one conceit. I believe that if I were to travel back in time and explain the concept of a blog to my eager 16-year-old self, and then show him ten or twenty or even one-hundred examples of today's blogs, that my younger self would have no trouble identifying the one blog—this one—that he would come to write decades later.
A blog post is not merely the work of an evening; it is informed by one's lifelong experiences including some of those dating from a relatively young age. This blog is in many ways something that I have been preparing for my entire life, including the decades before I was on the internet and the more recent years when I promised myself I wouldn't try to write a blog. Fittingly, though perhaps not surprisingly, the blog I came to write was the blog I was meant to write.
Don't think I'm alone in this. In the comments section of my Blog Post No. 700, reader Leocadia writes. "I'll bet you didn't know you are my blogging mentor." True, I didn't. That's really quite an honor.
When you read Leocadia's The Blog That Never Was, you'll find a blog that in some respects is worlds away from Attempted Bloggery. There is much there about Bob Dylan, whom I couldn't begin to write about, as well as other musicians of the 1960's. There is also a broad selection of fine art and poetry informed by religion and spirituality. In short, probably not a single post on either of our blogs would seem at home on the other person's because both of us have created very particular online realms which reflect our unique interests, experiences, and approaches to life, and in that respect we have achieved a kind of unity.
So, Leo, I'm quite pleased to be your blogging mentor. I think you've picked up the essence of blogging quite well—and probably not from me, by the way—in that you've been true to yourself. When you write for yourself, you create something of potentially great appeal to those who are like-minded.
Leocadia's The Blog That Never Was can be read here in all its glory. I'm her "blogging mentor." Can you tell?
Allow me one conceit. I believe that if I were to travel back in time and explain the concept of a blog to my eager 16-year-old self, and then show him ten or twenty or even one-hundred examples of today's blogs, that my younger self would have no trouble identifying the one blog—this one—that he would come to write decades later.
A blog post is not merely the work of an evening; it is informed by one's lifelong experiences including some of those dating from a relatively young age. This blog is in many ways something that I have been preparing for my entire life, including the decades before I was on the internet and the more recent years when I promised myself I wouldn't try to write a blog. Fittingly, though perhaps not surprisingly, the blog I came to write was the blog I was meant to write.
Don't think I'm alone in this. In the comments section of my Blog Post No. 700, reader Leocadia writes. "I'll bet you didn't know you are my blogging mentor." True, I didn't. That's really quite an honor.
When you read Leocadia's The Blog That Never Was, you'll find a blog that in some respects is worlds away from Attempted Bloggery. There is much there about Bob Dylan, whom I couldn't begin to write about, as well as other musicians of the 1960's. There is also a broad selection of fine art and poetry informed by religion and spirituality. In short, probably not a single post on either of our blogs would seem at home on the other person's because both of us have created very particular online realms which reflect our unique interests, experiences, and approaches to life, and in that respect we have achieved a kind of unity.
So, Leo, I'm quite pleased to be your blogging mentor. I think you've picked up the essence of blogging quite well—and probably not from me, by the way—in that you've been true to yourself. When you write for yourself, you create something of potentially great appeal to those who are like-minded.
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Leocadia's The Blog That Never Was can be read here in all its glory. I'm her "blogging mentor." Can you tell?
October 2, 2016 Update: Leocadia's The Blog That Never Was has been removed. This is particularly sad given the comment she made at the bottom of this post.
Also removed is the houseplant in Blog Central.
Note: For your reading pleasure, here are links to each of my earlier centennial posts:
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200: A Shaggy Dog Story
Blog Post No. 300: From the Libraries of Searle, Koren, Booth, and Saxon
Blog Post No. 400: The Attempted Bloggery Quiz
Blog Post No. 500: The Second Attempted Bloggery Quiz
Blog Post No. 600: What I Do When I'm Not Blogging
Blog Post No. 700: The Many Hazards of Blogging
Blog Post No. 800: Think Locally, Blog Globally
I generally try to run a nonpartisan blog and reserve the right to criticize either party when the level of idiocy rises sufficiently. This week, the morons seem to be on only one side of the aisle. For how long can I be expected to hold back? Anyway, to avoid venting my wrath every day with a painstakingly crafted political post, I'm just going to keep recycling my old anger along with an apropos rough drawing by cartoonist Mischa Richter which happens to reside in my collection. The post that goes with it is still more or less a reflection of my outrage at Congress and the fact that the title is about sequestration rather than raising the debt ceiling or keeping the government funded is to my mind almost immaterial. It's all the same sad story and it's all in the archives here. Just don't ask my opinion.
0900
I am moved beyond words - well not entirely, but moved to tears actually. Just this very morning I was thinking about getting rid of "The Blog That Never Was". I'm astounded at/by the timing. You've encouraged me to go on just when I was ready to give up. Gonna go and have a good therapeutic cry. Thank you Doc.
ReplyDeleteLeo
You're welcome, Leo. Thank you for all your support. Be proud of your blog.
ReplyDelete