This fall will mark a year that I’ve been writing this blog. Although I’ve been neglecting it lately, that’s been more a function of a lack of time at work than any lessening of interest. In fact, this blog has been far more successful than I ever imagined it would be. Not because I’ve accrued vast numbers of readers (I have not, though I find it somewhat flattering that people look at it once in awhile), but rather because I strongly doubted my ability to keep this up.
Looking back at some of my earliest posts, this blog was very, very political. I think I knew at the time that one of the primary drivers behind starting a blog was my desire to have a place to sound off about the election campaign without risking arguments with my Republican friends. After the election frenzy faded, I struggled a bit to find topics about which I felt like writing. I still have this problem. It’s helped, though, that I’ve gradually added quite a few semi-regular “features” – traveling photos, recipes, and music – that I can post with minimal effort when lacking time or inspiration to write something thoughtful.
A happy, albeit unintended, consequence of blogging has been my ability to keep in touch with other friends. When separated by distance, it can be easy to fall out of regular contact with people that I care about. Though reading a blog is no substitute for an actual conversation, it helps me feel that I’m connected to my far-flung friends. Each of their blogs provides a window into their lives. It sounds voyeuristic, but reading about my friends’ thoughts (and knowing they occasionally read mine) mitigates their absence from my day to day life.
Best of all, I’m pleased with my blog’s ability to reflect various aspects of my personality – love of food, music, and travel; stubborn yet (I hope) reasonable political liberalism; fascination with outer space; and a strong, yearning desire to experience and celebrate the sense of possibility engendered by the American Dream, filled as it is with patriotism, inspiration, disappointments, and hope. There are parts of my life that do not make it onto this blog. Indeed, I almost never write in detail about work, or my roommates and family, or my weekend social life. But these are things that are immortalized elsewhere – on facebook, in family photo albums, and in the collective memories of the people I know well.
I started this blog with the stated intent to use it as a snapshot of my life, a recording of thoughts, feelings, and impressions that might otherwise be lost to the forgetful passage of time. With more time and a computer at home, I could do a much better job of this. But, almost a year in, I’m fairly happy with where things stand.
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