Today marks my 1-year blogiversary.
Although I was initially skeptical of some blogs, which appeared (and still do) to be nothing more than private, unedited journals displayed for all the world to see yet which probably should stay private (is the idea of private space totally lost in this superlinked, supermediated, supersurveilled world?), I was nevertheless profoundly inspired by a number of blogs--including Bernie's Bejata, Charles Stephens's blog (though long gone and wiped clean, it still remains one of my favorites and never ceased to get me thinking), Larry Lyons's blog, Mendi Obadike's multiple sites, and Donald Agarrat's photogallery with commentary--as well as by the many political and arts blogs and websites I came across and was checking daily.
So I decided I'd start my own blog. My aim was to focus on the arts, particularly by Africans and African-Americans, and other African-Diasporic and diasporic peoples, as well as LGBT topics and themes, while also bringing into the mix anything else I found interesting--arts and letters of all kinds, sports, philosophy, science, factlets and gossip, and so on. I wanted to create a little forum, a theater in the original sense, where my and others' ideas might (come into) play. (Though I'd hoped to keep politics-specific posts to a minimum, I soon realized it was impossible not to talk directly about the horrors of life in the Imperium, and the destruction it was wreaking outside the country. The Emperor's war in Iraq, which I publicly protested against back in 2003, was already nearly two years old last winter, but since then, the ever-worsening situation there, the sputtering economy, the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the revelations about the domestic warrantless spying, the ongoing Plamegate investigation, the Vice President's tipsy shooting spree, and so much else impressed on me that I had to post on such topics, however inartfully.)
I initiated my posts last February 27 with a short bit of commentary on one of the poets I most treasure, Jay Wright, and followed that up with a photo and critical thoughts based on C's and my visit to Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates in Central Park, a public art event that continues to elate me, even in retrospect. (Why are these kinds of positive, public, communitarian, quasi-sublime event-spectacles so rare?) My second post invoked another poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, and my (double) tribute in verse, to him and to the blues, a strange enough combination but the very sort of juxtaposition that's always been typical of my life and interests.
I haven't been able to write half as many original pieces of commentary or thoughts as I would like to, or as I used to be able to do, because I spent almost all my time these days reading-- student creative and critical writing or committee file work (of which there always seems to be an exponentially increasing number!), and commenting on them--but I am pleased that I've been able to nearly meet my goal, even if sometimes only barely, of posting every single day for the year. So far I am only 4 posts short (really 3, since I've occasionally had 2 different, discrete posts on a given day, like on the very first one).
It's also been amazing to see the growth of blogs by friends and acquaintances and to connect to and with people through this new medium. Some of the blogs, like Gukira, KeithBoykin.com, Letras de Cactus, 0r EJ's and Ron Silliman's, have been in existence for at least a few years while others, like Rod (1.0 &) 2.0, Ms. Soucouyant, Monaga, Christina Springer, Ryan's Chronicles and Brooklyn Boy's Blues, are only a little older or younger than my own. I often debate whether I'll keep my blogging up once I reach my 365 posts, and as I've said, I really don't know. I have a leave coming up and so much I want to acccomplish during it, but I shouldn't put the steering wheel before the engine. Instead, I'll just say this past year has been a busy and exciting one, and it's been a real delight (and hard work too) to keep this theater open almost every day!
As I always say, thank you supporting this blog and for dropping in!
Although I was initially skeptical of some blogs, which appeared (and still do) to be nothing more than private, unedited journals displayed for all the world to see yet which probably should stay private (is the idea of private space totally lost in this superlinked, supermediated, supersurveilled world?), I was nevertheless profoundly inspired by a number of blogs--including Bernie's Bejata, Charles Stephens's blog (though long gone and wiped clean, it still remains one of my favorites and never ceased to get me thinking), Larry Lyons's blog, Mendi Obadike's multiple sites, and Donald Agarrat's photogallery with commentary--as well as by the many political and arts blogs and websites I came across and was checking daily.
So I decided I'd start my own blog. My aim was to focus on the arts, particularly by Africans and African-Americans, and other African-Diasporic and diasporic peoples, as well as LGBT topics and themes, while also bringing into the mix anything else I found interesting--arts and letters of all kinds, sports, philosophy, science, factlets and gossip, and so on. I wanted to create a little forum, a theater in the original sense, where my and others' ideas might (come into) play. (Though I'd hoped to keep politics-specific posts to a minimum, I soon realized it was impossible not to talk directly about the horrors of life in the Imperium, and the destruction it was wreaking outside the country. The Emperor's war in Iraq, which I publicly protested against back in 2003, was already nearly two years old last winter, but since then, the ever-worsening situation there, the sputtering economy, the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the revelations about the domestic warrantless spying, the ongoing Plamegate investigation, the Vice President's tipsy shooting spree, and so much else impressed on me that I had to post on such topics, however inartfully.)
I initiated my posts last February 27 with a short bit of commentary on one of the poets I most treasure, Jay Wright, and followed that up with a photo and critical thoughts based on C's and my visit to Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates in Central Park, a public art event that continues to elate me, even in retrospect. (Why are these kinds of positive, public, communitarian, quasi-sublime event-spectacles so rare?) My second post invoked another poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, and my (double) tribute in verse, to him and to the blues, a strange enough combination but the very sort of juxtaposition that's always been typical of my life and interests.
I haven't been able to write half as many original pieces of commentary or thoughts as I would like to, or as I used to be able to do, because I spent almost all my time these days reading-- student creative and critical writing or committee file work (of which there always seems to be an exponentially increasing number!), and commenting on them--but I am pleased that I've been able to nearly meet my goal, even if sometimes only barely, of posting every single day for the year. So far I am only 4 posts short (really 3, since I've occasionally had 2 different, discrete posts on a given day, like on the very first one).
It's also been amazing to see the growth of blogs by friends and acquaintances and to connect to and with people through this new medium. Some of the blogs, like Gukira, KeithBoykin.com, Letras de Cactus, 0r EJ's and Ron Silliman's, have been in existence for at least a few years while others, like Rod (1.0 &) 2.0, Ms. Soucouyant, Monaga, Christina Springer, Ryan's Chronicles and Brooklyn Boy's Blues, are only a little older or younger than my own. I often debate whether I'll keep my blogging up once I reach my 365 posts, and as I've said, I really don't know. I have a leave coming up and so much I want to acccomplish during it, but I shouldn't put the steering wheel before the engine. Instead, I'll just say this past year has been a busy and exciting one, and it's been a real delight (and hard work too) to keep this theater open almost every day!
As I always say, thank you supporting this blog and for dropping in!
I second that LOL
ReplyDeleteHappy blogaversary!
ReplyDeleteHappy blogaversary! I'm glad you're here.
ReplyDeleteCay-Ake!!
ReplyDeleteA Very Happy Blogoversary, J! What an amazing series of posts you've created over the past year. "J's Theater" has been very enjoyable and thought provoking 'required reading' for many of us. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI just love your blog. So I do hope that it keeps going way past the 365th post!
ReplyDelete