One Year Anniversary

One year ago this weblog launched. Those were the days following the 2004 elections, when it seemed like the country had surprised itself with the vote for George W. Bush. A fault line had yawned open between Blue and Red America, and it looked like a good opportunity to offer a few opinions on the subject, as an Internet-enabled means of torture for my friends and family.

The fact that I've earned a handful of extra readers along the way is still remarkable. But I've knocked out almost 100,000 words and well over 300 posts - everything from movie reviews, to reflective personal items to wisecracks about the news. Some of it works, some of it is pointless, and all of it has been self-edited according to the guidelines I set out for myself early in the process. A condensed version: Keep it short, strive to be original, don't parrot the opinions of others, never (categorically) talk about my employer, and keep an eye out for links between my personal life in Cincinnati, Ohio and national issues and trends.

Blogs offer a unique opportunity to participate directly in civic discourse, without advertisers, news corporations like Gannett, or intermediaries. I try to make reasoned decisions about what to write about - but this is, after all, a one man, independent show. And if I can get away with one sweeping pronouncement on this anniversary, here it is: Liberty and freedom don't seem to be short supply these days. But we need more bold, individual citizens who are comfortable with risk, who don't need cover and validation from political parties, corporations, or me-too groupies.

Now go vote. And thanks for reading Spacetropic.