Posted Feb. 23, 2016 | Ed Perrone
Why am I here? Excellent question. There are a number of reasons.
First of all, I actually feel like I may have something to say. I used to feel like that. Ever since I was a teenager, I was writing poetry, songs, essays, all sorts of things. Because I had something(s) I needed to say. I didn’t do it particularly well, especially early on, and I didn’t do it in a particularly organized fashion. But the basic urge and expression were there, and I indulged them.
As I grew older, I kind of grasped this energy like a wildly gyrating fire hose, got it more or less under control, and pointed it in a sequence of specific directions. I wrote songs that got performed and actually moved people. I wrote articles that people read and responded to, that sometimes made a difference. I wrote interpretive reports that helped people guide their lives. As the online age dawned, I wrote posts and essays and articles for online media, as well.
From the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, I spewed forth literally millions of words in various forms and contexts. I had things to say, and I had figured out how to say them in ways that were relevant to other people and to the world at large.
. . . . .
Then a funny thing happened. Somewhere in the mid- to late-’90s, the pressure in that fire hose began to fade. I began writing less and less (and enjoying it less and less), and as I thought about it, I realized why.
I had run out of things to say.
This was not a particularly “bad” thing, mind you. I didn’t feel sad about it, or anything like that. It was just the way it was. Over the years, I had apparently managed to say pretty much everything I had wanted to say — which is actually something to celebrate, wouldn’t you think? So realizing this, I had no regrets about turning in other directions.
So I basically stopped writing and focused the creative energies elsewhere. I began to do things that didn’t necessarily have a “point” or a “moral” or a “lesson” in them (as writing almost inevitably has, especially when you “have something to say”). These new things didn’t always have a reason. They just were.
A lot of what I did was programming web sites — which, to me, especially in the early days of the Web, was helping to bring someone else’s vision into reality. They wanted a website that did this, that, or the other thing, and I could make that happen for them. It was quite creative, quite rewarding, and the resulting site was definitely a work of art, just a different type of art.
On the musical front, I mostly wrote and recorded instrumental songs. Subtly pulling at your emotions, rather than beating you over the head with upfront lyrics. Again, not so much something to say, as simply feelings to express and to share.
. . . . .
I did all of that from the mid-’90s until now — when, more and more, I feel like I might again have some things to say. It is now the mid-2010s — so maybe there is some sort of 20-year cycle at work here. On for 20 years, off for 20 years, then on again. But I kind of feel things inside me that need to be said, and the urge to write them in one form or another is beginning to feel rewarding again.
Which brings us to this blog. I had been indulging these new self-expressive urges from time to time on Facebook…. but that really doesn’t cut it. Nobody can read them there. Just my (relatively few) Facebook friends, of whom only a handful even would care. So I write a nice little essay, and only half-a-dozen people even see it. Then it disappears into the black hole of old Facebook posts. Why even bother? I might as well just type the damned thing up and stuff it into a drawer (to use a highly dated analogy).
At least if I take what I would write on Facebook and put it here on this blog, it is available to the world at large, and it will remain basically forever. People may or may not see it, people may or may not care, but at least I can feel like I’m putting it out there and giving it a chance. Because when you have something to say, the worst thing that can happen is to say it to an empty room.
. . . . .
So I’ve got something to say, and a blog format is a (fairly) good way to say it. Not necessarily the best way (for me, at least), but it’s relatively easy to maintain and it’s accessible to a lot of people. Plus, it’s the 21st century, man, and I need to get with the program. Blogs are in. (Or are they yesterday’s news already, and I’m just late to the party?)
So: That’s one reason why I’m here.
Another reason is that I have a website, edperrone.com, which I tend to neglect very badly. I’m always working on other people’s websites… and mine needs a major overhaul…. and I really don’t have the gumption to go through all of that…. so it seemed like a good idea to basically move most of what I have at the website over here to this blog. It is a lot less work than overhauling the website, it accomplishes the same end, and it will be easier to maintain in the long run.
So this blog can serve to bring all of my stuff together: Ramblings, essays, and other similar things that would be on Facebook; musical excursions that would be at the website; and anything else I fancy to do. All in one place. And pretty painless to maintain.
So there you have it: Why This Blog. Explained in a rather long and rambling essay, of the type that you may see more of. Hopefully they will enlighten you, entertain you, make you think, make you laugh, piss you off…. just move you in one fashion or another. Feel free to comment and share, and let me know you’re out there.
Update, April 7, 2018: Well, here we are. The blog (formerly at Blogger) and the website are now one. So when you go to edperrone.com, you end up here. It all comes together in the end…