I have been deeply moved by the letters and verbal comments that I’ve received over the last month from devoted CultureGrrl fans (including some artworld luminaries). Some expressed distress over my plan to kill the blog; some wished me future success and expressed gratitude for my long run of uncompensated commentary.
I wrote that I would give myself at least a month to decide whether to end the blog permanently. I ultimately agreed with one appreciative reader, who clicked my “CONTACT ME” link and sought to persuade me to continue (in modified form) what I had started, some five and a half years ago. Here’s what he advised:
I think it is very important for you to keep your blog. It is a record of your
voice, and it is not colored (I hope) by the need to appease any particular faction. I also applaud and hope you continue to get WSJ and NPR/PBS etc.-type
gigs. They put an authoritarive stamp on you: The powers that be, such as they are,
want to associate themselves with your voice.But I do believe the centerpiece is the blog: It is your history; it is a place
people who know you can come or tell others to come. Now I think you have great
flexibility and should use significant ingenuity about how you use your blog.
Perhaps it is one good post a week; perhaps it is shorter and more derivative (uses
other sources when necessary to knit the story). Maybe it should be on Huffington Post [where I also write] so
that it gets wider readership.But I think it is what gives your voice gravitas and should be maintained, even if it
is a loss-leader to you. It is where you plant your flag.
Point well taken.
I’m planning, for now, to resume posting, on a much more limited basis—perhaps once or twice a week. I’m not going to cover everything that interests me—only a few developments that seem particularly blogworthy. I will try to continue my more robust presence on Twitter. But most importantly, I’m going to try to focus on paid journalistic gigs and on other professional relationships. I remain open to (but not optimistic about) invitations to blog for bucks.
Speaking of which, alert readers may already have noticed that I have restored my “Donate” button to my middle column. Those of you who expressed regret about missing my “Last-Gasp Fund Drive” now have a chance to welcome CultureGrrl back! Donors of $10 or more will receive e-mailed notifications when new items are posted. (Those of you already on my Donor list are, of course, grandfathered.)
Alas, I’ve not yet had a PBS gig, as my compassionate correspondent indicated, above (unless this website feature counts). But I did get interviewed again today by Finnish TV1. I think I should move to Helsinki!
This time I was interviewed by the Washington-based U.S. correspondent for the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s YLE News. (More about this conversation later.)
For now, here are my new Scandinavian friends, posing in New York’s Central Park against a backdrop that you all will recognize. (That’s a microphone, not a featherduster, in the cameraman’s right hand.)
