On Blogging

It happened again yesterday: i just didn't have time to write a new blog entry. I had started out with the intention of doing one every day for a year, but somehow that never felt quite right, since that's what i had done eight years ago with a set of poems. I also didn't like the idea that i had to write something no matter what and then suddenly stop doing so. Anyway, it all became clear to me this morning, when i woke up with the liberating realization that i was now free from this self-imposed and unnecessary discipline.

It also struck me the other day that blogging is essentially the same as writing newspaper columns, and before the invention of writing there were probably people who would do the same thing orally. Humans don't change very much in a few thousand years; only the technology does. (Some say mankind is becoming more enlightened, but i see no evidence of this.)

If i wanted more attention for my blog, i would probably write something controversial, maybe with a strong opinion about something, like many widely read columns. This also works for artists, especially painters and performance artists; but music seems to have lost its power to shock, like it did with "The Rite of Spring." Movies can be extremely disturbing in their realistic portrayal of, say, torture, but then audiences just stay away. Even pornography is more like a joke now. Probably the most shocking images and stories these days come from life, not art.

Art seems to compensate for the culture, like a dream reveals the unconscious mind, so perhaps these days art's value is in revealing the beautiful and good in life amidst all the sorrow and sadness.

my granddaughter enjoying her iPad