Monday, July 02, 2007

Blogging Blues

I have not been blogging too much lately. I have been busy with work, visitors, and I have been enjoying the most excellent stretch of weather that I can remember.

But there is more to my lack of blogging entries. I am becoming a bit bored with blogging. With no disrespect intended to my readers, I think the best, or most widely read blogs, tend to have multiple short entries rather than fewer in-depth offerings. I prefer to really dig in to fewer subjects rather than to gloss over many. And I sense a certain "preaching to the choir" aspect to blogging. It is not freedom loving, free market fiscal conservatives that I wish to engage. I want to engage the "government can solve my problems" crowd in the hopes of winning them over.

I don't intend to abandon this blog. However, I am increasingly interested in starting a monthly alternative newspaper. At this time, I am way too busy to undertake such a project. But my goal is to produce a trial issue sometime later this year. I welcome any ideas or suggestions.

9 comments:

Caledonication said...

I was wondering when you were going to post again. I've never commented on your blog before today. I have however, been sitting quietly in the background listening and watching. I live in Oak Creek and I'm building a house in Caledonia. I have three small kids and one on the way. I consider myself a staunch Libertarian (if anyone may be wondering). For obvious reasons, I became very interested in the goings on socially, academically and politically in Racine County. I find your blog to be a good source for pointing out issues in the area. Whether I agree with you or not, I appreciate your perspective. Don't underestimate the effect you (and your blog) have on the "government can solve my problems" crowd. Educating all types of people by publicizing real issues and the possible root of these problems, has a ripple effect that crosses all types of boundaries, in ways that you could never do on your own. This is very important, especially at a local level. I believe for many people, seeing something in the paper (or on the TV news) often just depresses them. The solutions offered are often just as depressing. Forums such as yours offer an environment where individuals can read other perspectives and actually bounce ideas around if they wish. Some of these insights actually strike a chord with readers who otherwise weren't sure there were any good answers or even how we might have gotten to where we are.

If you start an alternative paper, I'd definitely check it out and probably be a subscriber.

Brenda said...

Denis -

I think your faithful readers will miss this forum immensely - please do not underestimate how many readers you have.

I know many people read and do not post comments, but if you were to give it all up and started an alternative newspaper, I guess most of us would still get our much needed "Free Racine" fix.

Denis Navratil said...

Thank you for the kind words Caledonication and Brenda. Brenda, I am not giving this up. I just don't know how often I will post. Or it could be I am just not particularly engrossed in any local issues at the moment.

Preachrboy said...

Need a religion columnist?

Denis Navratil said...

Actually I would Preachrboy.

Anonymous said...

Everyone gets burned-out on political discussion from time to time. The current trend of extreme mutually exclusive opinion gets old - few chances to discuss, exchange or learn anything - too busy either admiring each other or screaming at each other - the RJT weblogs are bizarre this way. Sometimes we've strayed that way on your blog, but more often there have been good exchanges of ideas. I suspect the flame will reignite in a while, in the meantime I shall have to occasionally haunt you in person.

Caledonia Unplugged said...

Denis - you can't quit blogging! Do you have any idea how many more people you're reaching via electronic media than you would via a small publication? Links alone from other sites can grow your readership by hundreds. And to not receive any sort of feedback? I've noticed you don't have any type of tracking on your site - let me know when you've got some time and we'll fix that!

caledonication: You're a staunch Libertarian and you're moving to Caledonia - really? To maintain your own sanity, you might want to completely avoid politics in this village, at least for the near future, or even better, would you consider running for village trustee?

Caledonication said...

Caledonia Unplugged: How to make a long story short..?

Truth be told, I inherited half / bought half of a parcel from my dad. We are "settling" for building a house on this property, because real estate is way too expensive (as far as I'm concerned) and we got this for practically nothing. I'm doing a lot of the work myself in order to offset costs, as well. It is in a very quiet, agriculturally zoned location. We feel the environment will be good for our family (one child has autism). Only the oldest one is in "regular school". I do have anxiety about living in Caledonia. We're especially concerned about the regular school system and special education system. I guess we shall see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I'll sell and move somewhere else. Hopefully that won't be the case though. I'd like to think that the people of Caledonia are becoming better informed about their village and hopefully this will lead to positive changes. I'm not overly interested in being in the public eye. I'm not even sure I have the stomach for it. Maybe after living in Caledonia for a year or two, I'll have a better perspective of what my role in the community will be.

Looks like I'll be frequenting your blog as well.

Anonymous said...

Denis, it must be in the air, as I have recently found it difficult to blog about issues myself...even the things that I'm passionate about. So, I can relate.

I don't think that people will really care how often you post just as long as you weigh in from time to time.

Meanwhile, we'll just keep doing what we do...checkin' in.

As for your newspaper idea, I think that that's a really cool idea and could be a lot of fun for you!! Isn't it funny to think about where life's road takes us sometimes? Good Luck with that.