Dear readers:
The reality of my blogging activity right now is that it has become zero (in both blogs) and that I need a serious and calm revision of my way of organizing my own blogging activity so it remains a pleasant hobby and does not become (as it has happened) a burdensome unpaid work.
As I see it right now, the biggest part of the problem is that I would like to read and comment on way too many things, what is a practical impossibility. This happens in both facets of my blogging activity, the anthropological one and the socio-political one, however I reckon that the latter is the main cause of my stress. This is probably because I tend to try to cover all kind of news, often of great interest, through the whole world, as if my humble blog would be some sort of online newspaper or equivalent. This "vice" probably stems of my long activity in counter-information media in which I often fulfilled the role of volunteer journalist. I realize however that I cannot do that anymore, not at the level required by the flow of news much less respecting my own personal needs of leisure and rest.
Therefore I have decided to go on hiatus on both blogs as provisional measure, while I meditate and reorganize my blogger activity and take a much needed vacation of sorts, something I had not done in years (sure: no problem... until you break down). This "vacation" may take some time.
I have also decided that I will continue with the anthropological blog in due time because I do feel it is the activity that seems more important of what I do, having a greater impact, applause and (arguably) need. I will still take that "vacation" as needed but I plan to return some time soon (at worst around new year, just to mark a deadline). I will have to be more selective however on what to comment in order to more effectively use my time in a pleasurable and productive way. I also need to be a bit better organized.
Instead I have made no clear decission about the political blog because I realize that the current format is not working for me. I need to meditate a lot on this but so far I know that the information blog it is a format that does not work, certainly not for me, and that a counter-information medium needs of a cooperative work and cannot be built just on individual voluntarism. However I do not want to renounce to express myself on such matters but I have to ponder very carefully how to focus my interest. Essay only is something that does not really capture my imagination so I'm pondering some sort of equivalent to what could be a small weekly or bi-weekly magazine (in the less regular blog format of course), with one or few articles on selected matters much more sporadically than now.
It is just a preliminary idea and I am setting no deadlines for the political blog's hiatus yet therefore. I have first to chew on all this in much greater depth.
Selecting is still a problem for both blogs and something that burdens me as well, but, other than eliminating those feeds that only rarely produce useful information, which are not that many, and being somewhat more careless about reading and pondering them, I haven't found any solution.
Certainly getting myself better organized is important. Also taking more time can in some cases produce better quality materials. So in general I do have that idea of being much more selective than before on what I dedicate my efforts to and a bit less immediate. We'll see how it works.
In brief:
For what they were... we are continues in hiatus but will come back soon[TM], hopefully improved.
For what we are... they will be is now in hiatus and I have no clear idea of what to do with it yet. I needs a deep rethinking clearly.
The reality of my blogging activity right now is that it has become zero (in both blogs) and that I need a serious and calm revision of my way of organizing my own blogging activity so it remains a pleasant hobby and does not become (as it has happened) a burdensome unpaid work.
As I see it right now, the biggest part of the problem is that I would like to read and comment on way too many things, what is a practical impossibility. This happens in both facets of my blogging activity, the anthropological one and the socio-political one, however I reckon that the latter is the main cause of my stress. This is probably because I tend to try to cover all kind of news, often of great interest, through the whole world, as if my humble blog would be some sort of online newspaper or equivalent. This "vice" probably stems of my long activity in counter-information media in which I often fulfilled the role of volunteer journalist. I realize however that I cannot do that anymore, not at the level required by the flow of news much less respecting my own personal needs of leisure and rest.
Therefore I have decided to go on hiatus on both blogs as provisional measure, while I meditate and reorganize my blogger activity and take a much needed vacation of sorts, something I had not done in years (sure: no problem... until you break down). This "vacation" may take some time.
I have also decided that I will continue with the anthropological blog in due time because I do feel it is the activity that seems more important of what I do, having a greater impact, applause and (arguably) need. I will still take that "vacation" as needed but I plan to return some time soon (at worst around new year, just to mark a deadline). I will have to be more selective however on what to comment in order to more effectively use my time in a pleasurable and productive way. I also need to be a bit better organized.
Instead I have made no clear decission about the political blog because I realize that the current format is not working for me. I need to meditate a lot on this but so far I know that the information blog it is a format that does not work, certainly not for me, and that a counter-information medium needs of a cooperative work and cannot be built just on individual voluntarism. However I do not want to renounce to express myself on such matters but I have to ponder very carefully how to focus my interest. Essay only is something that does not really capture my imagination so I'm pondering some sort of equivalent to what could be a small weekly or bi-weekly magazine (in the less regular blog format of course), with one or few articles on selected matters much more sporadically than now.
It is just a preliminary idea and I am setting no deadlines for the political blog's hiatus yet therefore. I have first to chew on all this in much greater depth.
Selecting is still a problem for both blogs and something that burdens me as well, but, other than eliminating those feeds that only rarely produce useful information, which are not that many, and being somewhat more careless about reading and pondering them, I haven't found any solution.
Certainly getting myself better organized is important. Also taking more time can in some cases produce better quality materials. So in general I do have that idea of being much more selective than before on what I dedicate my efforts to and a bit less immediate. We'll see how it works.
In brief:
For what they were... we are continues in hiatus but will come back soon[TM], hopefully improved.
For what we are... they will be is now in hiatus and I have no clear idea of what to do with it yet. I needs a deep rethinking clearly.
Comments
will continue to be pre-moderated in both blogs because, even if the
troll activity seems to have greatly receded, I fear that some of them
are just lurking around in wait of a change in this situation (so
obsessive they are in many cases). The last thing I need is to be away
from the computer for a few days and find my blogs full of trollish junk
when I come back.
Also those reading the Wordpress version of For what they were... probably want to follow the Blogspot version by the moment, not just because it is the one I actually write on (the Wordpress one being a mirror or backup by the moment, getting only irregular updates) but because it is where the discussions really are (although admittedly right now they are all quite cold because of the ongoing hiatus).
I have not been able to decide if to migrate to Wordpress or not. This is another thing I need time for. It's largely a matter of familiarity and functionality, so I would indeed welcome opinions of people who are familiar with the Wordpress format, which I find myself sometimes struggling with to get what I want, for example a sidebar with a blogroll.
Thanks for your patience and all your supportive comments, they do make a difference, really.
Nice to see you rethinking your Blogging Activity. As I told you pretty early on - you seem to be just Copy Pasting Stuff on this Blog. There are hundreds of thousands of News Websites. You know a lot of things and rather than posting about Individual Stories - my suggestion would be to find Linkages and inform people what are the root causes behind these happenings.
ReplyDeleteI like to make sense of the World in terms of the Set Theory. Zoom in and Zoom out. See if there are any patters. For Example - Supermarkets have collapsed recently in Kenya, South Africa and Latvia. Today, I rode my Old Scooter and had Tea at a small makeshift Tea Stall located just outside one of the Newest Malls in my Hometown. It is known as the Pacific Mall. Just across the road is an Institution which provides Vocational Training to Deaf Kids. Will the Malls in my Hometown Collapse just like the Malls in Africa, Europe and North America? I don't know, but I smiled with my back towards the Pacific. I could write a small post about it. But a bit busy Organizing my Make Money Sites.
Try and look @ things from different angles. There is a Philosophy in India which says each thing/event can be looked @ from six different angles. Hope to see you posting again soon. Enjoy your Break!
"There are hundreds of thousands of News Websites".
DeleteBut hardly one even half-decent in what regards to Working Class information, certainly not in Europe and certainly not in English. Remember that the media are owned an controlled by an oppressor minority. We need something else.
Said that, I can't carry the weight of such responsibility on my shoulders alone.
... "my suggestion would be to find Linkages and inform people what are the root causes behind these happenings".
There are thousands of theoretical or essay blogs of that kind. While it's nice to read now and then on someone's opinion on the deep meaning and implications of, say, the (mostly unreported) mass protests of Italy these days. What I want to read is comprehensive up-to-date info on what is the global Working Class doing. Because they are doing a lot of things but the mass media and those zillions of news websites you mention, don't report on (or very slightly and shallowly so).
"Will the Malls in my Hometown Collapse just like the Malls in Africa, Europe and North America?"
I have no idea. In fact all you say about supermarkets collapsing is new for me. So first and foremost, I need to read about such events. Only then we can try to make sense of them.
First the data, then the interpretation. How can we interpret the reality if we don't get truthful grassroots info on it?
Want a meditation: that's why tyrannies collapse: information is replaced (via censorship and repression) by flattery and everyone, even the topmost leaders, lose contact with reality. Nowadays that is happening in the Western Capitalist Empire: the news are not really the real news but essentially regime propaganda and irrelevant distractions. Who talks of Fukushima? Almost nobody. Yet it is bound to be releasing MAJOR radioactive trouble for all the foreseeable future (and well beyond it).
So I do want a real news site or a zillion of them but today I got nothing or rather a very fragmented reality of a zillion irregular sources with very particular interests each instead. Only when I have the info, I can issue a well pondered opinion/analysis. Meanwhile I'm like the blind man touching the elephant and imagining a snake or whatever.
I need, we need, high quality global info sites. I don't find them, so I, almost instinctively, try to fill in that vacuum.
Very good points Maju, specially about Tyrannies collapsing. I don't mind visiting them but see the Malls as a representation of Economic Tyranny. They are irrelevant in the Indian Context. Just Today India's Minister of Communications and Information Technology made a statement that the Prices are rising because the Poor can now afford to eat Vegetables in addition to Lentils! What a Moron.
ReplyDeleteI have no info about the protests in Italy. Govt. workers have been striking in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh as well. Try as hard as they want to, suppressing information won't change the reality on the ground.
While I appreciate you honesty and really admire the fact that you haven't sold you pen, my humble belief is that the void you are trying to fill is too big. Aim small, teach people who the real culprits are and how to eliminate them. Who knows an idea presented on this blog may lighten a spark in some far corner of the Globe and lead to the desired action. Good Luck again and Enjoy your Break! I am sure you'll come up with something good after resting.