Not long after I started blogging I got a letter from someone complaining that my content is "...all over the place..." The reader said he couldn't tell what I was going to write about next, that this was disconcerting and that he thought that others might find it off-putting. He further
cautioned he believed that I'd have trouble sustaining repeat readership because of this. Finally, he indicated that while he found some of the things interesting, I ought to limit my focus to one or two key areas ["...like, politics, for instance"] and write longer more thought about pieces.Well, I just didn't know what to say. I hope he continued reading me.
I could be producing one of those things that endlessly repeats, spam-like, key words about specific subjects, like "health care" or "Student Loans." You know, the ones that have no profile or e-mail attached. Or I could write droning self-absorbed prattle about what CD's I just got or how boring history class was yesterday...or about my cats. But I don't. [well, sometimes, I might write about cats ~ mine as well as others.]
I do listen and consider what people send and suggest to me. But right now I see little reason to change my format. So, this is an explanation of what I write about, and why.
The name Short Notes, came from a column I wrote while working pre-press operations at a newspaper chain in the Adirondacks, oh - years back. They were literally "short notes" because the column ran pretty much the length of space we needed to complete the final pages of the paper.
This site is an outgrowth of that and a personal journal I've been keeping since Christmas 1980. It's always been quasi-public.
Online, it's even more so. But since it's my own set of reflections, I write pretty much about what's in the front of my mind. I'm not trying for a focused audience.Sometimes what I touch upon really is "...all over the place." Compared to the handwritten journal, my subject matter is fairly disciplined and terse.
I'm not a linear thinker. My synaptic responses twist and tangent all over the place; rather like some of my conversations. I have a long-established interest in almost anything [well, I can't abide idle gossip, remain impatient with chatter shows and quickly lose interest in the drivel that passes off as news] so I'm apt to write about anything else that interests me.
My interests include:
• human rights, • environmental concerns, • mental health, • life as a visual artist, • non-traditional families, • aboriginal culture, • sustainable technology, • permaculture, • 21st century feudalism, • progressive politics, • community planning, • achievable utopias
~ as well as other subjects I'm not thinking of just now.
As for politics, I believe that there are plenty of folks, far more tuned into political shenanigans than I, so why go for a crowded venue?
I don't want to waste anybody's time, so I try to write about or link to things that would inform; educate; spark thought; bring beauty into someone else's life; to amuse and distract from the grind that is life in the 21st century; and to direct folks to places where they can get more details. Simple as that.
Finally, it's a personal website for gosh sakes! What's on yours?
RESPONSIBLE OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS ENCOURAGED. ABOUT THE IMAGES: That's me at the tender age of 12 out back of my grandfather's house one Easter Sunday in one of the few pix extant of me wearing a tie. You ought to have seen the straw hat! The image to the left is a doodle I titled "Writer's Block"
It nice to see you like pussys, and as far as your writing and subject matter thats what makes you so interesting and good keep it, great job
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