Oct 20 2011
Cha, Cha, Cha … Changes
Yes, I am playing around with the theme here yet again. Thanks for your patience.
blogs
May 17 2011
Tom Perrotta on Flannery O’Connor
ThoughCast (“An ideaspace for authors, academics and intellectuals, hosted by Jenny Attiyeh) has posted a podcast interview with Tom Perrota wherein he discusses Flannery O’Connor:
His relationship with her borders on kinship, and he admires and admonishes her as he would a family member, with whom he shares a bond both genetic and cultural.
When asked to choose a specific piece of writing that’s had a significant impact on him, Tom chose O’Connor’s short story Good Country People, but then he threw in two others — Everything that Rises Must Converge and Revelation. As Tom explains, these three stories chart O’Connor’s careful trajectory, her unique vision, and her genius.
Click over and give a listen if you are so inclined. And check out ThoughtCast it looks like an interesting resource.
Apr 30 2011
PSA: Theme changes
In a seeming case of Murphy’s law just when I had found a theme I really liked I ran into a problem.
The previous theme had the featured post slideshow setup I really liked but I couldn’t get the stats tracking services to work. This might seems like a small price to pay for a nice, and free, theme but it was one of those things that really got under my skin because I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working.
So I switched back to this theme to verify that the theme was the problem. And sure enough, as soon as I switched to a different theme the stats plugins started tracking traffic again.
Just thought I would make a note of this for informational purposes and in case there were any technical folks reading this who might be interested in helping me solve this problem.
Sep 24 2010
In the Mail: Red State Uprising
Red State Uprising: How to Take Back America by Erick Erickson, Lewis Uhler
Synopsis
Fed up with our arrogant federal government? Don’t want massive programs we don’t need and can’t afford? Then join the Red State Uprising! In his new book, RedState.com founder Erick Erickson clearly outlines what needs to change in Washington and what we can do locally to make it happen. Red State Uprising is not about anarchy or a revolution—it’s about reshaping government to maximize economic growth, individual liberty and private property rights. Barack Obama has shown his determination to move the country towards a socialist nanny state, culminating in the government takeover of health care. The vast majority of Americans reject this vision and Red State Uprising calls upon this majority to stand up and take action. There is a “right size” for government, Erikson argues, but it is much smaller, much cheaper, and much less intrusive than what we’ve got now. Red State Uprising offers conservatives a plan to take back the people’s government.
Jun 12 2011
Blogs, Blogging and Comments
Image via Wikipedia
There used to be a rather hearty debate online about what exactly defines a blog. What sets a blog apart from a webpage or magazine or other online format?
This is not one of those posts. Instead, it is just my pixelated version of asking the question: to be successful at blogging do you need to read and comment on blogs?
I think if you want a certain amount of traffic and influence the answer is yes. And this has presented me with a more and more pressing dilemma.
Because I don’t really read a lot of book or literary blogs anymore; and almost never comment if I happen to stumble upon a post. Basically, my free time has been squeezed by work and family and I have a limited amount of true free time. Since I love to read, books take up a chunk of that time.
Much of the time I have left gets eaten up by social media; Facebook, twitter, etc. In fact, any blog reading I do will usually come from links found at these sources. Add in the fact that I have a wide variety of interests (I not only read a lot of different genres plus non-fiction, but I also focus on issues like sports, politics, and faith. This means a lot of people to follow and information to process which creates a dangerous time suck.
More and more this means very little blog reading and no commenting to speak of.
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By Kevin Holtsberry • Views • 2 • Tags: blogging, blogs, comments, Facebook, Online Communities, social media, Twitter