Who's still in the neighborhood?

For folks who've been reading my personal blog through Facebook, you might be wondering what this new thing is - or maybe not - maybe you hadn't noticed at all. But anyway this was my first blog, and I blogged here for four years - about whatever took my fancy. I blogged about life and fun and sports and politics. And then I took a year off - well, in fact, I'd meant to quit blogging here altogether.

I didn't really give up blogging. I just gave up blogging at the Vol Abroad. I blog a LOT for work, about work stuff. I blogged a little about personal stuff. I blogged not.at.all about political stuff, which I missed. Especially since there was a British General Election in my blogging hiatus. It about killed me not to blog on that. But my work role is a-political in the sense that I have to work with politicians of all stripes and opinions can sometimes offend. I know I can work in a non-partisan way and that I have done. To me there's a clear difference between working with a politician that I may not agree with, supporting them in a professional capacity and having very different political views.

But the worst thing about my Vol Abroad blogging hiatus was my disconnection from the Tennessee blogosphere and even the expat blogosphere. There was no reason for that, really. But I reckon that blogging is as much about reading as it is about writing. If you're not part of a community of blogging - then you may as well keep a journal. In a diary. With a pink flowers. And an easily forceable lock. And as I wasn't writing as the Vol Abroad, I wasn't really reading either.

So I'm taking off my jacket, changing my shoes, putting on my cardigan and checking out my blog roll here to see who's still in the neighborhood.

Ariedana's link gives me a 404, but she's one of the few I've kept up with. So, I know she's over here now. As far as either of us can remember, we've never met. We only know each other through the Internet. But we both reckon we've been to the same family re-unions, so I know we must have inhabited the same real life space at the same time. She is my cousin.

Big Stupid Tommy is still going. But I knew that, 'cos I found him on Twitter recently, where he has one of the best Twitter bios going.

Busy Mom - is still keeping pretty busy.

Joe Powell - still here and talking about squirrel hunting and frog gigging and how nasty squirrels taste.

Fore Left blogging strong - ahhh, I remember when that blog started. One of the things I loved about the TN blogosphere, at least when I left it, is that there was a strong geographic pull which straddled political lines. I'm not sure if that's still the case. But this is an example of someone who's politics I don't generally agree with who I was happy to link to.

Haiku of the Id - a gal from my home town, my brother's age and someone I've known all her life has kept plugging away on the blog frontier. She blogged recently about her daughter's first haircut and reflected on her own childhood 'do.

I should note that growing up my sister and I had terrible Dorothy Hamill bowl hair cuts. We had uneven bangs in the shape of a rainbow from where Mom cut them for us. (I can remember her taking us to the hair dresser, who would look at us with a sad face while Mom explained that she just gave us a little trim...) If that wasn't bad enough, strangers always thought we were boys. Boys.

Least said the better, really. But puts paid to the notion that kids just accept the poor fashion and grooming choices that their parents inflict on them.

Newscoma is doing lots of online stuff for work these days, but her personal blog is still going well and always full of profound reflections and amusing anecdotes. And the glimpses of connections that can be made in used bookstores in small towns.

I was gonna try to go through my whole roll - but I couldn't manage to do that in a single go. So I'm publishing now - and I'll catch up with the rest of you later.

Part of the reason I quit blogging here is that I set standards I could no longer maintain what with working and parenting and all that. I'm coming back to the Vol Abroad and I'm gonna be a little easier on myself this time around.

Anonymity

Another reason I quit blogging here is that I work with people with a lot of Internet smarts now, and 'cos I'm sloppy I couldn't really be anonymous. It takes a lot of work. So, now I'm blogging pseudonymously. I'm not using my real name on this site, mainly because I have a pretty big digital footprint under my real name - and that's mostly about work stuff. It's not a secret (hence why it's being fed through Facebook), but there is a separation.

Why come back?

Well, partly because I want to use the web address that my personal blog is on currently for something else. And partly because I missed my old alter ego, the Vol Abroad. She's a little bit meaner than me, but she seems to have more fun.