Where I Am

I began this blog when we moved to metro-Atlanta in mid-2007, as a way to discipline myself to write about what I think, observe, and experience (the writing goes out into cyberspace, and who knows who will be reading--if anyone) and as a disinterested way to keep in touch with folks I love who live elsewhere. By disinterested, I mean impartial, not directed personally toward particular people, but with those people in mind as well as any anonymous reader who might stumble across my blog. (I also write letters, personal, private, non-blog-like, with a little stamp in the upper right-hand corner of the envelope.) My faithful readers are my best friend in California, my husband, my son, and perhaps a niece in Texas who has logged on as one of my "followers"; local readers appear occasionally in comments. Others are lagniappe and I welcome them, though I rarely am aware of their presence beyond the counter on my profile page. But, mainly, my audience is myself, or, as Emily Dickinson wrote, "This is my letter to the world....."

I am a faithful reader of other blogs, blogs written by friends and by more publicly recognized people whose judgments I've come to trust. Occasionally I read the comments on those blogs, and most recently I was struck by a snarky comment left on one blog: Hey, congratulations! [this person wrote] You made Mark Steyn’s “Reader of the Day” portal. Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame before sinking back into the realm of those of whom it is said, 'Never have so many had so much to say to so few.' Oh, yeah, the sneering about having a small audience. Well, what writer has never had a small audience? And, really, who cares. Some of us write because writing helps us organize our thoughts, review our assumptions and conclusions, analyze our interpretation of events. If someone reads what we write--and responds appreciately--wow, cool. Otherwise, we know we're bound for oblivion, but until we go there, we're going to squeak a little along the way.

I have been writing less lately on this blog because I'm in the middle of a huge personal project that I'm recording on my second blog, Left for Texas. Also, I've gotten a little discouraged with what passes as political intelligence (Joe Wilson, Jon Voight, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, that stupid plumber guy--Joe something or other, ugh) in this country and have been content to read other people's posts on health care and the war in Afghanistan, etc. Yes, I want a robust public option in the health care plan; yes, I think Bush dropped the ball in Afghanistan years ago, and now we're reaping the fallout from that [sorry for the mixed metaphor]. Ummmm.... think Global Warming is NOT a hoax and that Barack Obama is NOT a socialist or Hitler or whatever latest moniker the fear-mongers have tried to hang around his neck. Okay, believe that, said that, signed the petition, move on.

What I really want is happiness, happiness for my children, for myself, for my friends, for the world, really. And if I can't have that.....well, a little squeaking before oblivion. That's what I do here. Thank God.