Wednesday, May 19, 2004

The Decision To Blog

Hi!

After some playing around, I have decided (a) that I will try having a blog and see how it goes, and (b) that I will use this service to do it. I am quite early in the process of settling into a routine here in our new life in Los Angeles -- I hope that this new situation allows me to do lots of writing, including blog posts and more polished pieces which I will also be publishing via this site. My posts might include application of political analysis to my own experiences, comments on politics in the broader world, discussions of popular culture, or any number of other things. Or I might stick with it for two weeks and decide my time is better spent in other ways. We shall see.

I have two things I want to accomplish with this blog:

1. I want to use it as an outlet for writing. I love to write all different kinds of things, but I am also very good at finding reasons not to write as much as I would like. One excuse I tend to use for starting pieces but then not finishing them is that I don't really know any place that publishes work of whatever sort I happen to be plugging away at. Well, now I do.

2. I also hope this will be useful as kind of a broadcast way of keeping in touch with people back in Southern Ontario, and trying to say semi-thoughtful things while doing it. Yes, many of those semi-thoughtful things may interest noone but me, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

My other main concern is with the constraints that the broadcast nature of this medium puts on me being myself. The self we present is slightly different to each person, and by using a medium that is open to everyone I am forced to be discrete about certain aspects of me. I believe very strongly in the importance of openness and honesty, though I make no claims to practicing them perfectly, so the idea of having to be "me minus a few bits and pieces" as I write on this site instead of just "me" rankles. As with the question of how I will actually end up using this site once my life reaches a place of greater stability, only time and experimentation can lead me to a sustainable answer.

Wish me luck!

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