A place for fluff

Hey Martin, fluff is okay. This new look is pretty minimal, but I thought the black and brown was kind of heavy and oppressive too.

I want to take a minute to thank you publicly for holding the Quaker blogosphere community together - for featuring new bloggers, for being so generous with advice and technical support, and for being willing to share your deeper thoughts as well as commentary on the real parts of life (like kids and jobs). I read a couple of things lately about "how to learn to blog" and mostly I realized that I learned a lot from you.

May God bless and keep you always.

Hi Robin, thanks for the public thanks. Yes, I think part a lot of the work of my second stage of Quaker blogging was trying to set a tone, to encourage others and to build a culture of blogging. While this blog has gone mostly untended for the past six months, I've continued happily posting other people's stuff up onto QuakerQuaker and commenting on their sites. I don't want to be _the_ Quaker blogger but rather one of many, which I guess is one reason I've never been particularly put off by the ever-greater expansion of the Quaker blogosphere. Uh-oh, but that's getting into the threatened essay!....

Martin, I want to thank you for your blog. I have long been checking in to hear what you have to say. I'm not sure if it is as a guidance, because I would hate to put that responsibility on just one person. Or if all that checking in has just for your Quaker insight. Hmmm, maybe a bit of both.

You're sweating the little stuff, everyone enjoys a bit of fluff.

I'm glad to "hear" your voice here again.

I've been a litle Quaker-blogged-out myself lately. Sometimes I just want to blog about the weather, or about how I feel fat, or what I am doing about school, or the dumb but awesome kung-fu movies I am watching. And since I didn't think anyone would want to read about that, I haven't been blogging--it is interesting that I just came back to it this week, determined to blog a bit more about my life, and cicked on you to find you ruminating along a similar vein!

Hi Amanda: _Yeah_, it's like the oppressiveness of wanting to write Something Important just zaps the sad fact that sometimes it's the little joys and grumbles of life that command our attention. Glad you've been voicing out too.

Hi Martin -

Gosh, something is in the water. Somewhere in the last 6-months, I've lost track of a number of things, not the least of which is my faith. Sigh. I found being a 'Quaker blogger' oppressive and had to stop. Then I came around to the idea that I could still blog if I found a way to escape the confines of the label and expectations. So, I put together a new look and name, but as of yet, I'm still waiting for the words. Double sigh. There was once a post comparing my experiences of going to a gay bar with working at a soup kitchen (...think rooms full of drunk men), but even that hasn't cured. :) Thank goodness spring is around the corner.

I hope things are going well for you and just wanted to say hi.

Take care,

Rob

Hi Rob, nice to hear your voice and "hi" too. Spring is here in South Jersey, just had a lovely hour at that lake park you probably remember. Theo Francis and I all swung on these swings:

Nice to have good weather again, makes everything feel nicer!