John at BAH and Boss Kitty at Truthhugger both announced today that they are taking some time off.
Blogging is, to paraphrase our nation's 43rd president, hard work. I realize that it doesn't seem so but trust me, it is. Greg is also taking a pause, but that is semi-imposed upon him by his duties in Austin. And I should mention that my brother Neil has placed himself in a timeout with respect to political posts for the most part.
That's quite a few important voices silenced, and it's still January.
Progressive blogging generally has eased as a medium of criticality in the past year or so, despite the resurgence of the left. Even the Great Orange Satan put out a call for donations at the end of 2012 as they watched their advertising revenue fall 30%. There's still plenty of us at the keyboard, even here in Texas, but the urgency and influence of what we write and do has definitely waned. Facebook and Twitter have replaced many people's blog posts, like Rachel and John. There's still lots of lefties with an opinion, they're just sharing it elsewhere.
As for me, I'm not going anywhere. This shop's traffic doubled last year to around five hundred clicks a day -- far from significant in the grand scheme, but a big step after almost ten years of nearly daily snark. I have often been amused at the number of sites which studiously ignore my efforts here, like the Texas Tribune for example. They have never included a link to 'Brains' despite a handful of conversations with Evan Smith and some email exchange with Ross Ramsey. Meh. I might be a little too coarse for their sensibilities.
You can always count on finding a few progressive outlets in the blogroll in the right hand column, from Texas and elsewhere. And they are folks who don't have the highest of profiles but are worthy of your click. We're the ones who -- for the most part -- aren't being paid to do this, you know.
So click over, please. Some days just knowing that somebody out there is paying attention is all that keeps us going. *sniff*
Then again, it's enough for me if I only make one Republican a day grit their teeth.
Update: The editor of The Agonist also announced he is leaving today, after he was offered a two-thirds cut in salary. Update II: The Agonist is, in fact, in the process of imploding. It might still live on in some fashion, but the meta conversations over there seem to along the lines of how it can go with grace (which might already be too late).
Over the last year I've had a hard time sitting down and blogging. I've lost my wit, my mojo, my mojitos, and the blogging I am doing is lame, so I am going off line for a while. Not long, but long enough to find that energy to write. God knows there are plenty of topics to address, maybe too many.
BossKitty is tired of it all. Politics in Texas is a Consumer issue. Those who Consume the most are in charge. Wealthy Texans CONSUME the political environment. Whoever disagrees with the will of the wealthy will be gerrymandered out of their voice, by a bought and paid for Texas State Congress. I know Texas is not the only state where this problem exists. But, this is MY state and I just live here and have to keep my head low … someone may blow it off because I complain about them on this blog. Texas Corruption is only interesting because most Texans are so proud of it. If you ask a Texan why, they really don’t know, except that’s what they are supposed to say. So, after pissing in the wind, while it blows in the wrong direction, BossKitty is taking a break. Call it a Sabbatical …
Blogging is, to paraphrase our nation's 43rd president, hard work. I realize that it doesn't seem so but trust me, it is. Greg is also taking a pause, but that is semi-imposed upon him by his duties in Austin. And I should mention that my brother Neil has placed himself in a timeout with respect to political posts for the most part.
That's quite a few important voices silenced, and it's still January.
Progressive blogging generally has eased as a medium of criticality in the past year or so, despite the resurgence of the left. Even the Great Orange Satan put out a call for donations at the end of 2012 as they watched their advertising revenue fall 30%. There's still plenty of us at the keyboard, even here in Texas, but the urgency and influence of what we write and do has definitely waned. Facebook and Twitter have replaced many people's blog posts, like Rachel and John. There's still lots of lefties with an opinion, they're just sharing it elsewhere.
As for me, I'm not going anywhere. This shop's traffic doubled last year to around five hundred clicks a day -- far from significant in the grand scheme, but a big step after almost ten years of nearly daily snark. I have often been amused at the number of sites which studiously ignore my efforts here, like the Texas Tribune for example. They have never included a link to 'Brains' despite a handful of conversations with Evan Smith and some email exchange with Ross Ramsey. Meh. I might be a little too coarse for their sensibilities.
You can always count on finding a few progressive outlets in the blogroll in the right hand column, from Texas and elsewhere. And they are folks who don't have the highest of profiles but are worthy of your click. We're the ones who -- for the most part -- aren't being paid to do this, you know.
So click over, please. Some days just knowing that somebody out there is paying attention is all that keeps us going. *sniff*
Then again, it's enough for me if I only make one Republican a day grit their teeth.
Update: The editor of The Agonist also announced he is leaving today, after he was offered a two-thirds cut in salary. Update II: The Agonist is, in fact, in the process of imploding. It might still live on in some fashion, but the meta conversations over there seem to along the lines of how it can go with grace (which might already be too late).
2 comments:
Thank you for continuing to holding the torch high. I admire and support your persistence and dedication.
It's not a torch, Kat; it's a pitchfork.
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