Selfie, JMN.

In several postings I’ve tapped a vein of old correspondence to my mother that describes events I forgot ever happened and thoughts I forgot I ever had. It’s a bit like clinically examining an earlier version of yourself preserved in a jar.

In the last fragment I posted I was struck by how eerily prescient it seemed in light of today’s happenings. In that 1987 moment I question reaction to the press’s treatment of Reagan when he was president, and I defend the fourth estate’s prerogative to pose tough questions to holders of elected office. That post has garnered virtually no response, and I think I’m learning why.

Just recently I read a useful advisory piece by a fellow blogger about successful blogging. It said, among many things, that blog posts were more likely to attract notice and approval if they were useful. My Reagan post, intriguing as it might be to me on a personal level, isn’t useful, instructive or entertaining. It merely adds to the volume of contentious noise already out there that must be as exhausting to many as it is to me.

I don’t want my posts to be too frequent, too lengthy, or too topical. Nor do I want to overload them with autobiography or confession. I want to write and share things that are edifying, amusing, informative, maybe provocative or puzzling, but not inflammatory. Also not shallow or superficial too often, I hope.

If I excavate anything else from 1987 or elsewhere to exhibit on EthicalDative, I intend to give extra thought before publishing to whether it’s noteworthy — likely to be useful in some way — to the blogging audience I’m privileged to encounter.

(c) 2018 JMN.