OH YEAH!

It is you.



You know, I think I'll take this opportunity to just thank everyone who reads my blog and especially those who comment. I think you guys are some of the smartest people I know. I know we've never met in "real life", but maybe we will sometime. I hope so.

Sometimes I read the comments people leave here to my wife and she gets as big a kick as I do. I always tell her that I really don't deserve such a large return on such a small investment. That might sound like false humility to you guys since you naturally think I'm great, but she's married to me in real life so she knows better.

One of my real life friends told me once, "You know, you're pretty good at this blogging thing." I laughed—he doesn't read many blogs. But it's sort of like owning a business, being able to say "I'm incorporated." People are impressed by that fact alone, never mind it's not really any more of an accomplishment than owning a trumpet. Making something out of a business, turning a profit with it is the accomplishment which is analogous to making pleasant sounds come out of the trumpet rather than bad fart simulations.

Starting a blog isn't that hard. Keeping people interested in reading it is, and that's where you fellows and ladies come in. You all post a lot more copy than I do, especially keeping in mind that we're all hobbyists here. We've had a lot of great discussions and great laughs together, and you've all carried as much water as I have to keep things rolling. My hope is that we can keep this thing going and going and going for years and years.

I observed recently that some blogs run professionally which get huge amounts of hits and readership suddenly become inaccessible when they are no longer generating income. My intention is to not let that happen to Est Quod Est, regardless of how many people ever read it. I hope it becomes a small part of the real life of everyone who reads it.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes....

I'm going to be making a few changes here at ol' Est Quod Est. First off, I'm going to ditch the "Pile of stuff I've been reading" in the side-bar. If I'm reading something which I feel is worthwhile sharing, I'll just throw it in as a blog post. Anyone who cares will still be able to view to old pile here.

Secondly—and I don't think this is nearly as radical as it might sound to some—I'm hereby extending an open invitation to any regular reader of this blog to become a contributor. Just leave a comment here or email me, and I will extend an official invitation with the signup link. There aren't any quotas you must meet to do this, and the "Golden Rule" should suffice as the blogging guideline. Obviously I'm the boss, but I'm the kind of boss that gets a kick out of people "taking advantage" of him. (That guilty look as you sneak a pile of wire bound notebooks or a stapler into your briefcase is... priceless. I know you'll be back tomorrow, laboring slavishly for cheap coffee and pennies on my dollar... MWA-HA-HA!)


Ahem.

Finally, I'm going to be making a concerted effort in the near future to find ways to promote this blog. This will take form in a few ways to begin with, as I see it. I'll probably begin attempting to write something of an editorial nature around once a week with a word count of between 500 and 1,000. This should increase the value of the blog by decreasing the percentage of the blog which is of a purely derivative nature. Also I'll probably be hat-tipping other bloggers more to acheive new traffic. Other ideas: book reviews, product reviews, local news... recipes?

Please think about whether you'd like to contribute to this blog, and don't be shy of giving me advice. This blog, albeit begun as sort of a joke, currently has an average of 40 visits a day. This places it firmly in the underachiever territory, but I think we can all turn it into something bigger and better and... who knows? What say ye?

One Good Insight Deserves Another

Rod Dreher astutely points out that the Palin-excitement among conservatives, insofar as it may be lacking in substance, isn't any different in that regard than the wild Obama-enthusiasm expressed earlier in this marathon presidential campaign.

I am amused by the folks in the comboxes below who are tut-tutting the identity politics manifesting themselves on the Right, with people "identifying" with Sarah Palin, and therefore willing to give her their votes. Because, see, the only reason leftish people have gone ga-ga over Barack Obama is because they carefully and unemotionally examined his positions on key issues, and decided to support his candidacy.

Bosh. Obama's program was no different from Hillary Clinton's, and is pretty standard Democratic fare. Obama sailed to the top on a high tide of good feeling; tens of thousands of people found him inspiring, seeing in his style certain ideals, and the charisma necessary to bring those ideals to reality. So what? This is how politics always works. You think Yes, we can! is a program? No, it's an emotion. Obama's entire approach has been about inviting the masses to identify with him, and it's served him well. What on earth do you think Bill Clinton's "I feel your pain" business was all about?

That's right on, IMAO. Let the record show that in all my many criticisms of Rod Dreher I never said he was a bad writer, and I noted that quite the contrary was the case at least once.

Then in the comments for the same post, another astute observation is made by someone styling himself/herself as "erstwhile contra":

This is one of the most intelligent things you've ever written; I just wish you had the same insight with regard to Crunchy Conservatism. If only you understood that conservatives who got on your case for going to a farmer's market didn't really have a problem with fresh produce. Instead, they were jokingly acknowledging that liberal form (going to farmers markets, for example) so often merges into liberal substance, as is made obvious in the bedrock liberal principle of of identity politics. It is exactly the principle of identity politics that conservatives not only reject, but define themselves against. Therefore conservatives don't love Palin because she hunts moose, they love her because her hunting of moose telegraphs that she is not a liberal. The fact she bore a Down's syndrome child telegraphs the same, leaving zero room for ambiguity and doubt, despite liberals' best efforts. The Palin phenomenon is actually the triumphant return of "lack of identity politics", with the delicious irony of Palin's irrefutable womanhood making it all the more sensational.

Suffice it to say this is a fairly adequate summation of my own views on the matter.

And for what it's worth to yous locals in NE Ohio, there's is some choice-looking produce up on Detroit in Westlake on the south side of the road, a little west of Columbia. The watermelons looked especially tasty. The dude has a mega-garden.


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[cross-posted at the Alexandria blog]

Is it Earth Day, or is it someone's Birthday?

Earth Day. Whatever. Happy Earth day.... Earth.

Well, it's a reader's birthday today, and I wouldn't know except that now there are all these automagical networking systems out there sending people information. So here's a little homemade video made by someone having way too much fun. Don't tell the internet Puritans.

Susan B Rocks

Reader Susan B has her own internet radio station, which I've been rocking out to all morning. Check it out.

Steve is on the Crunchy Blog, inventing situations

From yesterday: Steve is playing devil's advocate over here, or perhaps he is an angel trying to remind confused people of their crunchy roots? In any event, the effect is humorous.


Speaking of the Talking Heads and the writer's strike, "Found A Job" has got to be one of the best songs ever. DAMN THAT TELEVISION....

Thanks for reading my blog. For current commentary and what-not, visit the Est Quod Est homepage