Thursday, August 8, 2013

To blog or not to blog

So why start a blog?

All my friends did it years ago. It seemed a good way to survive medical school and residency. Sometimes its an attempt to justify the usefulness of being a lawyer, though perhaps that's a bit strongly worded (and might get me sued for libel). Of course, now blogs are decidedly uncool and all the cool kids have joined Twitter, so I figure it's safe for me to start one. I'm no early adopter like Atrios, or Yglesias or even John Cole And don't even get me started about that guy named Ezra Klein, who's done quite a bit to help out the state of journalism-- along with a stable of really talented reporters like Sarah Kliff, Suzy Kimm and Brad Plummer. After all, I didn't get a cell phone until 2004 -- and my phone is still decidedly dumb. An extra $30 a month for a data plan is not in the cards for a grad student's salary or the low income of unemployment.

But I think that the thing that appeals to me the most about a blog is that I can write as long or as short as I want. There's no artificial 600-word limit like on most op-ed pages (and let's face it, it's impossible to get space anyway.) And being concise is great, but it's often difficult to get a coherent point across in 180 characters, let alone any analysis.

This is also a form of dignity. I've likely missed the boat on the ability to change the world through a blog, but there's more than that in it for me right now. This is a way of justifying my existence and maintaining a small corner of autonomy during a time that I have very little control over my life. Whether you choose to read this or not is your business. Whether you like what I write or not is your taste. But I will continue to write nonetheless.

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