Categories
Weblogging

So long, and thanks for all the posts

Recovered from the Wayback Machine. 

What a marvelous party this has been, and what wonderful people I’ve met, but it’s time, and past, for me to move on. This posting will be Burningbird’s last.

I wasn’t sure how to close the weblog down. Should I just quit abruptly? Spelling out “GOOD-BYE” with no hint of why I’m leaving? However, as tempting as it was to play woman of mystery, I’ve never been one for brevity and I wasn’t about to change my style here at the end.

I started this weblog for two reasons: writing and community. Twisting time into a moebius strip and coming full circle, these are also the reasons why I’m closing it down.

If you’ve been reading Burningbird for some time, then you know I love to write. To compliment this, I also love reading and I’ve met some potentially great writers among those webloggers I’ve been honored to call “friend”.

Potentially great writers. I say this not to insult the writer but because I’m finding that the characteristics of weblogging that allow us to meet great writers are also the characteristics that prevents the writers from showing their full potential in their weblogs.

It’s so seductively easy to write to a weblog. Open a tool, type in some words, push a button and “Hey now”, you’re a published writer. Yet writing is more than putting words out for others to read – it’s also a process of thinking about what you want to write, researching your subject, working with the words, writing and re-writing the same phrase over and over again. It’s effort that takes time – lots of time – and involves change. And, above all, it’s a very personal process.

The very nature of weblogging is that we post regularly, we don’t pull the postings, and we do only minor edits. If we pull postings we leave broken links from other weblogs, or comments that are left orphaned. If we edit, we’re breaking trust with those who’ve commented on the original writing. Weblogging is writing that’s been externalized.

And once the words are out and the writing is finished, no matter how terrific the post is, it’s slowly pushed down a page and hidden among other postings and blogrolls and blogstickers and other graphics until it eventually falls off the bottom of the page, never to surface again unless some strange person puts a bizarre request into Google that leads to one of our archives.

Truly great writing must be allowed to persist through time and if there’s one characteristic common to all weblogs, it’s impermanence.

There’s no reason why the weblogger can’t write for other publications – many do. I do. However, I’m finding that, for me personally, my weblog has become a creative relief valve, something that’s not as positive as it may sound.

Writing is as much a discipline and an overcoming of inertia as it is a product of creativity and skill – you need a build-up of creative energies to start a work and see it through to the end. Since I started weblogging, I’ve found it difficult to focus on my books and my articles, and it shows. In the last year I may have written more than at any other time in my life, but I have the least to show for my effort. No articles, and only one book finished.

What a twistie – to continue writing I must stop writing.

Stop writing to the weblog. So much harder than it sounds because through weblogging I’ve met incredible people from all corners of the world. Not writing to the weblog means I’m also leaving this very special community.

And this leads to another twistie for you – to become part of a community I must leave a community.

In the last six months, I’ve kept myself wrapped in amber. Closed, static, sitting in a chair with computer on my lap, connected to the real world through your eyes, hearing your song, living in your dreams. I’ve managed to avoid dealing with the world and issues in my life that need resolving by folding myself into the community of wonderful people I’ve met here.

My weblog has become more than my avatar, it’s become me.

I need to walk among forest paths with thoughts other than “I must remember to post this”. I need to meet people and look into their eyes, and to laugh and hear something other than the echo of my own laughter back. And I must stop using this weblog as a surrogate for life and the only way I can do this is to quit cold turkey. Walk away, and not look back.

Walking away – this is going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because I’ve come to like and respect, and even love, the members of my virtual neighborhood. You.

I have no regrets leaving the artificial world of weblogging – the Daypop and Blogdex ratings, the arguments of “webloggers as journalists”, the occasional and unthinking nastiness, the obsession with outlines and links and Google and quizzes and memes of the minute.

But I do regret leaving you.

So long my friends. And thanks for all the posts.

Categories
Political Weblogging

The CC wants you

I got to thinking about the Citizen Corps and TIPS and realized that there was something missing – there wasn’t anyone to watch the webloggers.

The truck drivers watch the freeways, the train conductors are watching the rails, the utility workers are watching the electric meters, and the postal service is watching practically everyone else while misdelivering mail, but there’s this huge gap of uncovered and potentially dangerous territory – the weblogs.

And there are so many in the weblogging world that would be so good at this type of patriotic duty. After all, they’re the ones who have already rooted out the terrorist sympathizers and the anti-Semitics and other traitors among the weblogs. Now they can do what comes naturally under official sanction.

Since the government is only providing stickers for cars, I figure the only thing missing is to provide a sticker for the weblogs of the “patriotic Americans”. Well, delay no longer – your weblog sticker is here! Feel free to copy it and display it proudly on your weblog.

And be sure to link the graphic to the CC weblog division – RATS.

ccweb.gif

Send a message to Dubya that you’re behind him, all the way.

(After all, someone has to clean up the shit.)

Categories
Political

Little brother is watching you

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I don’t know what the fuss is about with this Operation TIPS. Personally, I think it’s a great idea myself.

Think about it – all those unamerican people grouped into one organization, easily tracked, as well as highly visible with little stickers in their window. It’s never been easier to spot and know the enemy.

Great idea. The Bush administration should come up with more like that.

Categories
Legal, Laws, and Regs

More on TIPS

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The Washington Post has an article on TIPS that cuts through the hyperbole to the heart of the issue, and the ultimate cause for concern:

Public vigilance is a good thing, and so is encouraging citizens to alert authorities to terrorist activity. It makes sense to educate people who work at potential targets or at places where lethal cargo may be smuggled. But having the government recruit informants among letter carriers and utility workers — people who enter the homes of Americans for reasons unrelated to law enforcement — is an entirely different matter. Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people’s houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.

Short, but extremely well written article.

Brought to us through the kind offices of a new and improved MetaFilter

Categories
Just Shelley

SprintPCS Nightmare

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I’m broke. I barely have enough money to get by through the next month. And my “royalty” check I received this weekend was only 36.00 – I was expecting 1000.00. Still, I can manage. I can manage…until today.

Don’t worry – I’m not asking for money. Support, yes. Advice, yes. But not money.

The story:

When I moved to San Francisco last year, I let Sprint talk me into covering my long distance in addition to my cellphone. I figured what the hey, I use my cellphone for long distance anyway.

Long story short – I had International calls in May. Total time of 195 minutes. That’s a little over 3 hours.

I tried to call with my cellphone, but was told that I didn’t have international calling turned on for the cellphone. So, I used my regular phone and my Sprint long distance. I assumed that the rate at the time was the standard high but manageable amount of 40 cents a minute, US. Cost would be about 80.00 at this – stiff, but I could still swing it.

Well, I just received my bill – $618.84. Let me repeat this amount – $618.84. Over $3.00 a minute.

I called SprintPCS – there must be a mistake. There had to be a mistake. I don’t have this kind of money. I was told by Sprint “customer service” that since I had not signed up for International calling, I wasn’t eligible for the .40 a minute rate. I told the person I wasn’t originally told that I had to sign up for International calling when I signed up for SprintPCS to cover my long distance. I didn’t even know there was a specialized international long distance calling plan until I tried calling with the cellphone.

(If I had stayed with the regular phone company, it would have .40 a minute.)

The supervisor told me that they didn’t say anything to me when I signed up for long distance, because I had never called International numbers before. (And I’m not exaggerating this one, this is exactly what he said.)

Since I had never called International, they didn’t feel that they had to tell me there was a massive penalty for calling international numbers without signing up for international service. But once I had, they would tell me the next time I signed up for long distance service and I could get international rates on calls in the future.

(Question – why let the call go through if a person is supposed to sign up for international calling in the first place?)

I told the supervisor that I was signed up for international calling on the cellphone. This doesn’t matter because I needed to be signed up for the other phone – the regular phone. The process isn’t by customer, it’s by phone.

Oh – and there’s nothing they can do about the fact that they didn’t tell me ahead of time about having to sign up for international calls or face a penalty.

If anyone has suggestions on how I can fight this, please, please, please email me. Please. I’m pretty desperate.

Update: I had thought about some form of call in campaign against SprintPCS, but let’s face it – we’re all nothing to corporations such as this. If you don’t believe this, all you have to do is look at the daily paper.

Moral of Story: It may seem as if there’s no difference between your national and international weblogging buddies, but there is – about 3.00 a minute. As a suggestion – stick with email.