12-year-old Uncle Dylan with his nephew James.
There are so many more things to say than can ever be said.
Any blog is like a plant pushing up through loose, moist soil. Who knows if it will make it or not? Some sprouts do; others don't. (When it comes to my gardening skills, almost all don't!)
This particular blog has proved to be both a success and a failure. For a long time, I've thought about retiring it when we reached this milestone, our 1,000th post, if only because it is likely we've served whatever purpose we possibly could have served.
It all started with a broken heart, at my oldest daughter's urging. It's evolved into an online journal of sorts, blending my personal life with my political and professional lives into a strange sort of unspicy gumbo, I fear.
Should I go on? Or is it time for this blog to wither away, as in Lenin's idealistic version of the Communist state, albeit never followed by the evil Stalin...
I will rely on you, dear readers, to decide. Please post your comments, anonymously, if you wish, below, and your vote will govern my decision. Part of me thinks that one thousand heartfelt posts may have been enough. I do not know if anyone really wants this blog to go on.
I am old, tired, unhealthy, and doubting whether this blog is serving any useful purpose any longer. Please let me know what YOU think.
7 comments:
Well...
With your commitment to Bnet, on top of your new job, on top of shared responsibility for 3 youngsters, on top of your obligations to Junko, on top of your many friendships and affiliations, on top of your extended family, what's the problem? Besides, damn it, I've come to expect your daily updates and now you're going to pull the plug? What's with that?
Seriously, David, your arguments to close on this milestone are sound. You obviously have many more genuinely important tasks to attend to and no one would suggest you slight those things or, more importantly, your health.
Close it. Save everything accumulated, but close it. Consider some alternatives as a follow-on, such as an informal email newsletter format. Something you might release weekly or monthly, or when you felt like it! Let your blog, or selected parts of it, linger in cyberspace for a while with an invitation to anyone interested to sign-up for the newsletter.
In case you do decide to pull the plug, let me be the first to thank you for hosting this blog, and allowing my few comments over the past many months. It just happens that this was an ideal format, with an ideal host, to experiment a little.
I've loved seeing the pictures and reading the every day snapshots of your life, and hearing you explain some of the influences on your life and thinking. Does it energize you to post? Or does it drain you, especially now that you have a full time and busy working life again? If you can keep it up I will keep reading! Love, Carole
David...I knew you 14 years ago at Mother Jones (Jay's then very pregnant assistant) and stumbled on your blog as we'd both put "investigative reporting" in our blogger interests. I'm not in San Francisco anymore, so it's been like going home to visit your blog. Thank you and whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck.
Thanks, guys. And hi Gina! You probably have more than one teenager by now...
No -- just one wicked smart and sassy teenage daughter and a puppy. It's enough!
Ah, good for you. Quality > quantity is good. I've seen Jay twice this year at events; he soldiers on. Mother Jones is probably the first political publication in history whose co-editors both delivered babies within weeks of one another!
Hi David,
I am late responding because our computer has been down for a while and I am out of touch. I feel like Carole, I love seeing the pictures and hearing about your life but definitely understand if you feel you want to quit. I was glad to read in a later blog that you will keep going for awhile and I will keep lurking.
Love, Nance
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