The Admiring Bog

How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog –

Hello everyone! Many of you know me from Notes. Hi!!

After a couple years of prolific commenting, liking, and re-Stacking, I’ve decided to rip the band-aid off and finally start a publication of my own.

I have so many things to talk about! Mostly I’ll be talking about books, but please expect this newsletter to be all over the map, ranging from the very mundane to the wildly esoteric.

The hardest part is just sitting down and writing the first post, so now I’ve done it. Hi! Hello!

We shape and are shaped by our writing, and the persona that emerges, though tethered to us, is also an entity unto itself. It represents only a part of us, and may outlive us. This is part of what makes me hesitate; this shout into the bog will become its own thing, connected to me but with a life of its own. I’ll have to feed it, care for it, watch it grow, and deal with how other people react to this thing that is me-but-also-not-me. I’m looking forward to it, excited, and a little scared.

I first read this Emily Dickinson poem as a little kid, long before the consumer Internet existed, but I always picture this thing we do (here, and on other sites) as shouting our names to the admiring bog.

I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!