I started this blog back on January 6, 2012, with a post called "I Am Born" (link to it). I have to say that I've done some of what I said I'd do, and in other cases not: Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire! As I said (I think) in Post #1300, I've not written as much about education as I'd thought I would. And the reason? I retired from public school nearly nineteen years ago (January 1997), and from private school in June 2011. I don't really know what it's like to be teaching during this Testing Craze, though I can (sort of) imagine: Ohio began its proficiency-test phase a few years before I retired--and I have to say that those tests accelerated my desire to retire asap. Suddenly, all anyone seemed to care about were scores.
As this blog has evolved (if I dare use such a word), I've written more and more about personal history, about books, about silliness--and I've used it as a place to serialize rough drafts (sometimes very very very rough drafts) of things I will eventually publish on Kindle Direct.
By the way, I did an early post here (Feb. 19, 2012) about why I had decided to publish on Kindle Direct (link to it). The main reason? I'm older (71) and not all that healthy (I've posted about that), and don't have time to fool around with the commercial publishing industry, not the way I did years ago when I thought I would never die. Oh, I could tell you stories about delays following on delays of delays. And lies. And broken promises ... but I won't.
I don't ever check my sales numbers on Amazon, by the way: I don't care about them. All I care about is that these things are "out there"--available to anyone who has Internet access and the Kindle app. And that's good enough for me. I do get a nice little (I emphasize little) check each month from Amazon. Good for a movie or two, a trip to the grocery store. Fine with me.
I also don't write much about politics. In this Age of Polarization, nothing anyone writes really changes anyone else's mind. Some of my more fiery friends on Facebook (Right and Left) are not about to read a post on DawnReader and say, "You know, he has a point. I'm shifting Right (or Left)!" So I remain a moderate to Lefty Democrat and hope for the best.
Lately, though, I don't see/feel a lot of hope. People who hate Pres. Obama are not going to be swayed by my saying, "You know--I think health care for everyone is a good idea." Just as I am not swayed in the least by stern and certain insistence from them that he is a Muslim who wants to destroy America.
I'm a live-and-let-live guy. Believe what you want--worship whomever you want--vote for whomever you want. Just don't shoot me because I don't agree with you.
It's also been my custom to check my "readership" when I reach another 100-post milestone--and not before. I just this second looked. I've had 250,955 total hits on the site--that's an average of 179.25457.../ post. That's nice. But again, I don't really care. I write for myself--and kind of because I have to--and if there are some folks who keep up with it all (or some), I'm grateful. But I would keep at it even if no one read the entries. (Such is madness, I know.)
I print them all out, by the way, store them in notebooks for my puzzled descendants to discover and wonder what-the-hell-was-wrong-with-great-grandpa?
Anyhow, I'm still having fun. Learning. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it.
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