"I Never Meta-Post...

I didn't like," Will Rogers might've said (except maybe Wiley Post, who was flying the plane whose crash killed Rogers in 1935, so he became ex Post: facto; or the New York Post, whose front page headline today used the word "loon" to describe the guy who posted the video that has set the Middle East back on fire).  But he didn't, 'cause he didn't know from blog posts, of course.

I, on the other hand, am about to meta-post.  I've been doing this blog thing since mid-January, to a total of 40 posts.  While it can hardly be said that readership is growing exponentially, it does seem to be growing.  I send post notices out to about 60 people; assuming that half of them either ignore me or send me to spam, there's 30 or so peops who I figure read somewhat regularly.  The blog has been averaging around 130 visits a week, so somebody's going there.  For the uninitiated, then, a mission-statement.

I began writing primarily to publicize my radio show.  It runs on a low-power FM station in Bellows Falls, VT, and, on a good day, all weather conditions and planetary alignments being favorable, can be pulled out of the air from as much as a half-mile away.  WOOL also streams live on the interwebs, so it's available there, but, as the show is from noon till two pm on Tuesdays, very few on my mailing list are able to listen at that time.  It's almost like I didn't want to be heard, isn't it, all of you armchair psychologists?  But I do.  So, I thought, if I linked the subject matter of the blog to the show's theme, even people who couldn't get the show would have some idea what I was up to, at least regarding that facet of my life, and if they cared.  And there are at least two jokes that I know to illustrate that sort of, not really synesthesia, but of one sense compensating for the lack of another, that I'm refraining from telling.  One's racist and the other's just too lowbrow.  Look how mature I can be!

I also wanted the posts and shows to be topical and timely as much as possible.  Thus, I'm often writing about somewhat controversial things and, as a committed Lefty, from that perspective.  Although the elite Right-Wing media keep trying to portray it as otherwise, I think the Limbaughs and O'reillys drive public discourse today and work diligently, through spin, selective context, and outright lies to affect the mood and direction of the country.  I try, although surprisingly my audience is smaller than theirs, to be a voice counteracting what I see as their self-serving and dangerous ideas (See what I mean about the Lefty thing?).  As a result of "speak(ing) today in hard words" as Emerson had it, I've gotten some surprising (to me) reactions.  In fact this post is a reaction to that issue: a newbie reader who expressed some concern my regarding tone, directness, and their effect on audience reaction.  Thus this attempted clarification.

Some find my "rants," as they are commonly called by readers, too angry, some too politically different from their views.  That I can understand--I don't listen to Rush or watch BillO for the same reason.  But I'm not as angry as it may sound; that's partly persona and pseudo-extremism. Mostly I'm amazed and bemused by what's going on, and feeling like others ought to be aware.  In an earlier post I characterized what I'm doing as Secular Prayer, and I guess I'll leave it at that.  The country's under attack and I'm trying to man my barricades.  As an agnostic, civil-apostate fan of appositives, I'm just sayin'.

This week's show, as yang to last week's yin, will be "listen" songs.  Haven't even thought of any (any suggestions?) but I know they're out there.  There's lots of talk out there, but still a lot of important things to listen to, and too often we miss them.

Self-aggrandizement department:  one of these past posts, I'm not even sure which, will be printed in a forthcoming book by world renowned writer and professor Dr. Brock Dethier.  I also don't know title or publication date of the book, as Brock was noticibly reticent with details, or if the post will be cited as a positive or negative example of the form.  Not knowing stuff never keeps me from pronouncing on it, though.  And I'm a published, professional (to the tune of $50 smackers) writer now.  So.