The state of the blog this year was not particularly good,
in fact it was bordering on downright bad.
There were a lot of “from the inbox” posts and, compared to previous
years, not as many original posts. There
were several reasons for this.
From November through June two other issues, one work and
one home related, took up a great deal of time and energy. Both were resolved in a positive fashion but
neither are experiences I would ever want to repeat. (For those wondering – the marriage is fine,
one of the kids had a health issue that eventually required surgery.) I caught my breath over the summer and then
fall hit – the busiest time of the school year for parents and a busy time at
work. Political races don’t tend to
really heat up until after Labor Day, especially if the primary was
uncontested, and campaign often don’t staff up until then. I tend to be the opposite – if I’m not
already following a candidate, it’s too late for me to jump in after September. There just isn’t enough time, eight weeks
until the election, to learn enough or have sufficient exposure, to write good
posts. Since this was a presidential year the
information firehose really came on after Labor Day and often just keeping up with
email took all of my allotted blogging time.
The Jane household did our part to stimulate the economy
this year, with two (or three depending on how you count) major purchases. So there was very little money available for
political events. House parties were popular
this year in area races. They are great
for campaigns – probably less expensive than events at commercial venues. They are not so good for me, though. As a general rule I don’t write about events
that take place in people’s homes. I’m
sure I’ve done it a few times over the years but only a few. It just seems rude to go to someone’s house
and write about it without announcing one’s intention (or the possibility) of
doing so beforehand. Thus money spent on
political events in private homes is kind of a wash. They are great for getting to know candidates
or getting more exposure to candidates, but when money is in short supply they
are the first events crossed off my calendar.
Also people tend to be justifiably curious about strangers showing up at
their house parties when they don’t live in the district, and I prefer not to
answer a lot of questions about who I am and why I am there.
On the other hand I’ve been more directly engaged with civic
matters the last two years. Boots on the
ground, nose to the grindstone, not necessarily political but civic, though it
has involved working with some elected officials. I’ve enjoyed that but it also means less time
for blogging. Another rule of thumb is that I don’t write
about people when I’m interacting with them via other venues; there were a couple of people I would have
loved to write about (and not in a positive way) but I was sitting in a room
with them on a semi-regular basis so that was out. This foray into the “real” world has been
interesting and I can see one or two times when my presence at the table led to
something positive but, to be honest, I’m not sure those small victories were
worth all the time and effort it took.
The inertial forces at work in any group setting, let alone bureaucratic
and institutional ones, are fierce and executing any kind of change requires a
level of patience and diligence that I am not sure I possess. Sitting home at night with my house slippers
blogging would likely provide a greater sense of accomplishment, and it would
require less travel. Thus there might be
some changes next year.
There you have it. I’ve
been busy, out and about, but not blogging as much as in previous years. I am hoping for a calmer, or at least less
frantic year next year, which hopefully will mean more and better blogging.
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