Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Why do I blog?


This site has been chugging along for ten years as of today.

Some thoughts on the question in the title:
  • I blog because I want to model that it is possible to draw out of the encounters and accidents of daily life some insights into political and social systems. That sounds grand. I mean such things as noticing that a restaurant has put a surcharge on your bill for "Healthy SF." That's the local program that insures the uninsured. You start noticing things like that and pretty soon you find your immersed in the economics of health insurance, of the restaurant industry, and even immigration policy. That's good!
  • I blog because I've lived a long life in politics, inside the electoral system and outside in the social movements of our time. I think I've learned something along the way and this place is a venue in which to share what I observe.
  • I blog because I think some things need to be said that people with institutional obligations or personal ambitions cannot or will not say. As I say to any organization for which I consult, "don't let me near any funders!"
  • I blog because good things do happen. Sometimes it is truthful to feel hope or delight and to say so!
I had taken it into my head to do a significant redesign of the blog, but Google in its wisdom has upgraded the HTML in the underpinnings of these things, so I would have lost my all the paragraph breaks in the archives. I probably could have figured out how to avert that, but I have things to do ... that's blogging, an avocation, not a job. I settled for some clean up and a new picture.

You get what you pay for and Blogger has been good to me.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so happy you take the time to blog, Jan, because I know how intelligent, thoughtful, and analytical you are, and because I trust your commentary. On those rare times I don't agree with what you've written, I'm inspired to dig deeper into my own opinions.

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  2. I read your blog every day. Don't know what I would do without it.

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  3. What Ted Kuster and Sandra de Helen said. Happy anniversary on your avocation. As I know all too well, it's a hell of a lot of work, but extremely rewarding. Plus, when you want to put your two cents in about something, there's a place to do it, so simply as an anger/frustration management tool, it can be invaluable.

    Thanks again for all the work.

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  4. Although I am a lurker, I read your blog daily and admire the work you do. Keep on keeping' on, please! :-)

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