January 2015 – Whaddya Mean Rosebuds?

Hey, you. Yeah, you!

But no pressure, right? As I browse through the postings from Blogging 101 — and with that, all the other delicious postings the Reader tells me about — I begin to think: my dream reader would be somebody who has the time to read. Or the patience. What a lot of words there are already in the world! So, Dream Reader, here’s what I’m thinking:

I won’t expect you to understand my life choices. Wow. When I read that possible prompt (“maybe your dad, so he’ll finally understand your life choices”), I had a moment’s almost dizziness. Imagine what it would be like to have someone — Dad, anybody — who understood your life choices. Imagine — for just a precious moment, say — what it would be like, being able to understand your life choices yourself. Oh, that would be something. Reader, I don’t expect to understand your life choices either. That’s okay with me. Life choices are very confusing.

I am curious about them. Really, deeply so. And I hope you’re curious about mine. Even if just a little. In a kindly way. With willingness, if not identification. With interest and not aversion. With, well, patience. There might be something there.

I like new ideas. Hope you do too. Even better, I like new corroboration of my old ideas. Bet you do, too. And the old viewed from new angles, reader. I want you to like that too, because I do. And I send out my pictures and perceptions with some hope they might tickle some sense of recognition, of mirth, or compassion, or just plain interest.

Reader, you and I, we face each other, in a kind of blindness, getting glimpses of this and that. When I read something, I hope it will add to my day — maybe my life — and if I only could, I’d be that for you too.

First Post for Blogging 101/ January 2015

Who am I, etc. It’s a fair question. The About page of this blog gives a lot of the basic “facts.” Retired from a bunch of things, I’m looking to see what I can do with this medium. So far, I’ve been posting mainly photography. I’d like to expand that a little and I’m using this course as a jumping-off point. I hope to do memoir, essays, things like that.

I do keep a personal journal and it’s just that: personal. With the blog i’d like to be in touch with others. Maybe the real question is: why not Facebook or something like that? That’s harder to answer. I see a lot of people doing interesting things on Facebook. I think the answer to that is I’m looking for a little room to turn around in.

The first topic that comes to mind is memoir, probably because I already edit a memoir section in an online magazine, so it’s a subject that interests me. Also, I think writing about the past can lead to insights about the present.

Well, of course I’d love to connect with anyone who’s interested in hearing what I have to say — and who will have things to say back to me. I’d really love to get some conversations going. I suspect most of my readers will come from my age cohort, but I don’t assume it. When I was younger, I was interested in what some of the oldies had to say. I’m guessing there may be younger people out there who may connect with me in the same way.

If I blog successfully throughout the next year, I would hope to have written at least a handful of repeatable essays and

connected with some interesting people. Oh yes, and not least, I hope to learn more about how to use WordPress.

Month: January 2015

To My Dream Reader

Who Am I and Why Am I Here?