a.k.a. V.J.

WordPress tells me that I’ve been contributing to this blog for 59 days now. Being almost at the two-month mark, it seems like a reasonable point to look back and assess what exactly a.k.a. V.J. is all about. To be honest, I’m still really not sure.

I went into this project with the intent of it being open-ended. There were some initial ideas about a more focused approach. At one point, I wanted to do a dedicated local history/travelogue project. Ultimately, though, I didn’t want to get pigeonholed. I also realized that I wouldn’t be traveling out to too many local history sites between November and March. No other focused topics that crossed my mind really felt like something I could write about on a regular basis without burnout creeping in.

That led to the more omnibus approach you see before you. I figured that if I wrote every day about something that interested me, some common themes would emerge eventually. If any of those themes felt worthy of running with full-time, I would do so. If the end result remained an incoherent mishmash of ideas, I would be happy to keep going with that.

Going into this project, I was also hazy on what I wanted to get out of the experience. I knew it wasn’t going to draw a large audience. I wasn’t going to use it to sell or market anything. Nobody was going to turn to me as an influencer for anything. (God help anyone who would!) So, what was the point in starting a personal blog — a format that probably peaked somewhere around 2005 to 2010?

Part of it was to give myself an alternative to social media. I’ve made my thoughts on the baleful effects of social media pretty clear. But just because I hate social media, doesn’t mean I don’t want to post my thoughts, comings and goings, and pictures from my daily life online for posterity. It’s all about the environment that those things get posted into. I’m willing to sacrifice views and engagement for an online platform that isn’t rife with toxic dynamics, manipulative algorithms, insipid sponsored posts, and bad actors.

Mostly, though, I’m doing this out of a faith that if I keep writing, something positive will result from it. Writing is how I organize my thoughts. It’s how I make sense of the world. It’s a form of therapy. Writing is a bit like walking. Taking one walk probably isn’t going to do a lot for you. But if you walk a reasonable distance every day consistently over a period of time, you will start to realize a number of very desirable physical and mental health benefits. Writing is the same way; at least for me. The routine, discipline, mindfulness, catharsis, and sense of accomplishment involved in writing on a regular schedule will yield good things. Of that, I’m certain.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, thanks for sticking with me. If you’ve just now come across it, I hope you found a worthwhile nugget. In either case, I hope to see you all again in this space tomorrow.

Tschüss!