Happy Birthday to My Blog

Unfortunately the "new look" isn't quite ready for debut. But it's time to celebrate anyway.  

I've been at this for one year now and it has been a great success so far. It took a while to find a rhythm.  Was this a blog about lots of links with a few extended essays? Or was I about incredibly detailed and comprehensive posts like this heavily footnoted one on the Gaza pullout ? I'm still mad that Gaza post got no reaction.

I started the blog during my internship at Penguin books. I had two free hours one afternoon and there it was. From day one I described myself as a "freelance writer." That is one of the great things about writing. You don't have to pass a test or get a licence. I thought a blog might help me and it has. But a blog makes demands. You have to write alot and your craft can suffer. You have to give your opinion quickly.  Would hastily composed reactionary riffs  help me become a writer that people take seriously? Or would it just catalog good reasons NOT to hire me?

Here is my first post on the first day of spring - touting my original url.  The really sad part is that I didn't save my original first post - which I lost due to a user error. It had an incredible extended metaphor where the blogosphere was a high school. Oh well. Soon I tried to introduce a regular feature about Harper's Magazine. Here is the second installment in the very irregular series.   I also linked to the article that gave this funny name to the blog. The name has been a blessing and a curse.

People went nuts when they learned a little about my personal life, like when I gave the "ladyfriend" a tribute on her birthday.  And the blog has been at its best when it mixes the personal and political in essay format. The most popular page is the obviously titled "How I Became a Paleo-Conservative." I've often thought of taking it down to avoid giving the wrong impression. But my personal favorite was my essay on a dinner I was privileged to eat on Maundy Thursday of last year: "Dinner at Telluride, Communism, Capitalism and Creme Brule."

Over the year my readers have seen me grow from just a blogger into Books Editor at the New Pantagruel and a regular columnist at AFF Brainwash.  They've watched me start fights with the libertarians. They've met and greeted our infrequent VIP guest John Murphy. They've followed my strange infatuation with Rachel McAdams. I suppose one of the more interesting sub-plots of the blog is the effort to transform myself into a writer that gets paid and published.

I should thank my readers for coming along every so often and the commentors who give life to the blog. I should take time to thank everyone who linked to this blog - especially those that did so early:  Clark Stooksbury, A.C. Kleinheider, Chris Roach, Glaivester and Andrew Cunningham, and the psydeonymous Anna Broadway.  I'd like to mention the editors who have helped me out: Dan Knauss and Caleb Stegall at the New Pantagruel, Kelly Jane Torrance at AFF Brainwash and John Zmirak.  Also very important to the success of this blog was Steve Sailer whose links often came at times when I thought no one was reading and Kevin Michael Grace who ought to be considered a national treasure in Canada. Leon Hadar from the CATO institute has been generous with support. And speaking of generous libertarians I should mention the ones I have been provoking: Peter Suderman, Joann and Fey of Fey Accompli and (most provoked) Will Wilkinson.

But most important to the life of this blog is Daniel Larison. His blogging is amazing. He is a one man industry of polemical traditionalism. It often seems like we are working together. I dance around and distract an intellectual opponent for a moment and Daniel socks him dead across the face. Daniel does all the good blogging things --  he puts a good spin on my work, he links to it and behind the scenes he helps me hone my ideas and my writing