When I launched this blog back in May, I told myself I wouldn't let it get too bogged down in politics. I intended to limit the subject matter to items of a cultural, personal or creative nature. (Click here to read my first post on this blog.)
Lately, as you can tell from recent posts, I've started to stray from that apolitical path. One reason is that I've been writing a lot of essays and commentary for a course I'm taking at Albany, and the mental juices have been flowing more copiously than usual of late. Another reason is that quality writing requires quality thinking, and it's impossible to think too hard about the state of the world today and not start seeing the places where political and ideological matters intersect with the cultural and the personal.
But the problem with blogging more about politics is that it will tend to homogenize your audience: People who agree with your views will tend to keep reading for that happy carrot of positive reinforcement you provide, and if you're lucky you'll attract some new readers. People who disagree will drift away, though, toward some other reading material less offensive to their sensibilities.
I'm not promising that I will keep this blog absolutely ideology-free, because I have strong, informed views and they make up an essential part of who I am as a citizen, a parent, a student, a musician and a writer. But I want this blog to to be a big tent, as the saying goes, with room for all sorts of readers. I don't want to preach to the choir; I don't want to preach at all. I want this blog to be more like a traveling carnival or a vaudeville theatre than a soap-box.
Send in the juggling clowns and the fire-breathing poodles!
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