I’ve finally returned from the last of an excruciatingly long series of trips this quarter. From Chicago to Toronto to Boca to San Francisco to Noida to Boca to Boston to Boca to Noida to Boca to Noida and finally back to Boca again. During this time, and fortunately during one of the Boca stops, the boy turned one whole year old.
I’ve seen Canada Geese in Canada, Indian Spot-Billed Ducks in India, and California Gulls in California. I’ve seen good art and bad art, and everything in between, in commuter stations on two different continents. I watched 4 movies per flight on my 6 intercontinental segments. And I’m tired.
And now I’m home, for what I hope is a good long while. After I’ve had a chance to organize my thoughts, I might write about them. But then again, I might not. I ran across an interesting thought recently on one of my favorite blogs; interesting enough that I’m even going to paraphrase it here:
the verb “to blog” really should only be used in the pejorative sense. If you have something to say, you are writing, not blogging.*
I’m not sure I agree, entirely. I think that blogging has expanded the possibilities for what writing means, perhaps even to the extent that it has created a new conceptual category that requires a new word. But I do agree with the sentiment: writing is the strength behind blogging. If what you have to say can’t be called writing, perhaps it really shouldn’t be blogged, either. No matter how visual or hypertextual the blog, it still is text-driven. And texts should be crafted with care, not just blogged off. After all, even though a good blog piece may be ephemeral, the bad ones (even in a Tweet) can take on an eternal life that, though virtual to begin with, have all too real consequences.
All of which is a long way of saying that I will probably be updating this blog a bit less frequently than I have in the past. Don’t worry. I’m sure your lives, like mine, will be very little affected by this change.
*John Gruber’s words are good enough that my paraphrase shouldn’t be the only way you get this material. Here, from his blog, Daring Fireball, is the actual quote: “The entire quote-unquote “pro blogging” industry — which exists as the sort of pimply teenage brother to the shirt-and-tie SEO industry** — is predicated on the notion that blogging is a meaningful verb. It is not. The verb is writing. The format and medium are new, but the craft is ancient.”
**SEO=search engine optimization