Why I am Not a Smart Blogger

 

If you spend enough time in the world of blogs and bloggers you quickly learn that the secret of gaining a readership resides in linking to other blogs. Bloggers X and P are writing about the inconsistencies of Alexander Hamilton's Federalism (just for argument's sake?) and I, fervent but askance observer write my scree proclaiming Jefferson's my man (though I stop short at embracing Fruitarianism?) and then I link my article to the neo-Federales and voila! Now I have something like an audience.

The trouble with me is that I cut my teeth on poetry and so I don't expect an audience. I even imagine a posthumous audience, a coterie of library researchers (assuming there will be any libraries) far in the future. They will find me in the obscure-going-to-dust final final archive of old fashioned hope (for I believed in the soul and dared to imagine human progress). How silly I was! I was like a flower pinned on Stalin's chest. I was a street sweeper in Pompeii. Silly to the end.

Back to the Federalists: they should have eaten more fruit. Alex Hamilton was a ferocious meat eater and his posse had trichinosis.

**

Random thought number 1:

 

The sight of Sarah Palin excoriating Rahm Emaunuel for using the "r" word while carrying on as though she's a true champion for people with disabilities is more disagreeable than Rahm Emanuel. Sarah Palin cut budgets for social programs in Alaska that would have helped people with intellectual disabilities. The hypocrisy here is without analogy.

 

RT number 2:

 

Most legends are unlivable. I remember James Baldwin remarking that the symbolic Paris, the Paris of pure freedom merely existed as a necessary idea. Being able to see this is of course an American trait. Whitman understood that America only existed as an idea. If you want to see America you must look to Leaves of Grass.

Lots of people in contemporary America seem to be miserable believing that we're now living through the Fall of Rome "American Style". Apparently for these people this is a necessary idea. The quick way to sat it is: "I've got mine, screw you."

 

RT number 3:

 

So Americans need to become revenants of America. Don't worry about how many readers you have. In my mind we're all equal but there's responsibility goes with that. Don't be bitterly estranged. Don't give up on gallantry.

 

How's that, my five readers? How's that?

 

S.K. 

Comments

[elizabeth]

I have always wanted to be a librarian -- a secret desire. So perhaps I can be your future library lady, virtual style.

[Leslie B.]

"How's that, my five readers? How's that?" I hope you are not too frustrated by your small readership. But, hey, which do you prefer, quality or quantity?

[Leslie B.]

You have read James Baldwin's short story "Equal in Paris"? His horrifying incarceration experience in the jails of Paris was how he discovered that pure freedom was only a dream in Paris.

[Betsy Hutchings]

Actually, counting me you have six readers. I'm a puppy raiser for the Fingerlakes Region of GEB. I live in Ithaca, and while we're on the prison theme, I'm a prisoners' rights lawyer. Reading your blog, I have fantasized about how my life might have been different if I had been an access officer at a university. I have started looking for access issues in prisons as the ADA applies there -- one of the few enforceable rights prisoners have.

I also read Blindgator, a blog written by a young man who recently got his first guidedog. He lives in NYC and is a comic.

Yours,

Betsy

[Laura Castle]

I'm still a reader and still enjoying your insights and beautiful way with words.

[Laura Castle]

You probably have many more readers than you realize. Remember many people who read blogs never comment!

[blue girl]

Another reader here! *Waving arms in the air*

Let the masses flock to Conveyor Belt of Love. (Seriously, that's a real show. Women sit and judge men for husband material as they go rolling slowly by on a conveyor belt. LOL!)

Me, myself and I admire and appreciate a smaller readership.

You are like the Conveyor Belt of Love for those with discerning tastes. lol

[Georgia Whitney]

See me jumping up and down, proudly proclaiming myself as one of your readers, Steve.