Dappled Things. . . all things counter, original, spare, strange. . .. . . NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED. . . |
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::...:: Friday, December 07, 2007 ::...::Some Changes -- It's been about a month now since I've posted anything, due both to being away for a bit and to having a few new personal projects that I've been working on. So, the personal time that I had been dedicating to the blog has recently been absorbed by other pursuits. In the course of the month, I began to realize that I really didn't miss blogging very much and that most of the particular niches I filled several years ago are now being admirably filled by other, new bloggers.What did I set out to accomplish? The whole point of Dappled Things, from the beginning, was to give me a creative outlet and an intellectually-engaging pastime to escape a bit from the dull monotony of everyday life and to recreate virtually the mentally-stimulating environment I had grown used to in university and seminary. As I've added other pastimes and outlets and friendships over the years, my personal need for the blog has really evaporated, as the diminishing frequency of the posts probably indicates. The purpose was never ministerial or evangelical, although I suppose it has collaterally served that purpose from time to time. Particularly if the blog's posts have shown a humane, civil, and fundamentally optimistic side of Catholicism and Catholic civilization, grounded in the Person of Jesus Christ and informed by the history and traditions of our ancestors, this religious contribution can be judged a success. At a time when acrimony and and a bellicose spirit often characterize the interactions of religious and non-religious people, I have tried to keep the tone of this blog irenic and to show the worldly folk the riches of Catholic tradition, and the Catholic folk the contributions of the worldly or non-Catholic, and to look at the positive ways in which different people express both their common humanity and their different spiritual visions. Although I've received my fair share of angry emails over the years, I think the number of regular readers from vastly different backgrounds indicates that this spirit of tolerance and shared humanity has also been successful. So, with the blog's raison d'être basically gone, I've decided to stop posting. For the time being, I'll keep the blog online and available, as I think there are many articles in the archives that will continue to be of interest to people. Eventually, though, I'll probably initiate the auto-destruct sequence. For the time being, I plan to keep the Dappled Photoblog and perhaps to keep adding to it. Email access to me from the blog will be disabled, which isn't a big deal as I rarely respond to email anyway and as I don't need any further ideas for future posts. As long as the blog remains up, the blogrolls will remain active, although I won't be actively maintaining them anymore. All those blogs, particularly the A-Listed ones are recommended to anyone going through blog withdrawal. Also, for as long as the blog remains up, you'll be able to click the Dappled Reads link at the top of the page for ongoing feeds from selected blogs that cover many of the same themes that I have covered -- Catholicism, liturgy, the philosophy and politics of liberty, historical curiosities, and so forth. As before, the content of those feeds is delivered automatically and is exclusively under the control of those bloggers, not me. If you like the Reader, great; if not, stop reading it. So, as I bid everyone ave atque vale, I'll add that I have enjoyed these five years of blogging. By reading and writing on a number of subjects, I've clarified my own views within my own head and hope to have helped others to do the same. Although any blogger gets the occasional email from nutters, fanatics, and ignorant or hateful people, I have enjoyed the thoughtful contributions of the majority of my readers and have actually gone on to become friends with a few of my contributors. Very frequently, the thoughts and critiques of these readers helped inspire posts and shape them. In that sense, this has been a collaborative project, and I thank them, as I also thank all the silent readers, and wish you all happiness, peace, and rich blessings. :: Permalink -- 10:33 AM -- Links to this post :: ...
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