Yes, I Know I’ve Been Quiet

I’m still here. Really. And, yes, I know that I’ve been a bit quiet lately. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing; I have. But I’ll also admit that I’ve been a bit down, too, and posting to this blog just hasn’t been at the top of my agenda.

As some of you may know, my dog died a few weeks ago. He was the best dog I’ve ever had and saying goodbye was very difficult. In the days leading up to the fateful day and in the days that followed, I just found my level of interest in … well, most things, lacking. So this blog suffered.

And I must also admit that the lack of response that I get to my posts is disheartening. I know I’ve bemoaned that fact before, but still… On Twitter, I can toss off a quick thought and often generate instant reaction that can turn into extensive conversations (or arguments). Here, where I try to offer much more careful, nuanced thoughts … crickets. I know that some pundits say that blogs are dead. Maybe they’re right.

But, as I said above, I have been writing. Unfortunately, I’ve found that a number of the posts that I’ve started haven’t turned out the way that I want them too. Either I lose interest in the subject or the subject becomes less timely or whatever.

I spent two lunch hours writing about Ferguson and the relationship between police, civilians, suspects, protesters, and the media. Then I spent two more lunch hours revising and rewriting. And I still don’t like what I’ve got.

I’ve also spent some time writing about proposed “hate crimes” legislation following a community discussion several weeks ago. It’s an issue that I struggle with and the act of working through some of my concerns via this blog and “thinking out loud” has been helpful. But the post isn’t in a publishable form … at least not yet. I anticipate having some more discussions on the subject next week, so maybe that will give me the impetus to finish that post. Who knows.

I also started putting together a post collecting some of the most interesting articles, quotations, and images related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but that just got a bit unwieldy.

Are there any subjects you’d like to hear me opine on?

Anybody?

Sigh.