A Retro Beginning

The last time I wrote a blog post was almost 12 years ago. It was a short post about cricket, the Nintendo Wii, and Louis CK. The blog itself was ostensibly devoted to cricket, but since I liked to ramble and think aloud in my writing, it often wasn’t much about cricket. 

That was a different time on the internet. The “blogosphere” was in bloom. The mainstream was still firmly in control of the discourse, but unknown writers could find a platform and an audience, however small. The future looked bright and the vision of tech was a positive one. I was also in my mid-20s at the time, when things often look the brightest.

It’s not hard to see the contrast between then and now. Tech seems like the enemy these days—an evil spirit that we uncorked and have no way to bottle up again. You can feel it around you all day. There’s a reason The Social Dilemma was such a hit and “doomscrolling” is one of the words of the year. 

And yet, blogs are making a comeback. The growth of Substack has shown that there is an appetite for more-than-Twitter-thread-length writing. Blogs may not feel as new and ascendant as they once did, but they do harken back to a simpler, more optimistic era of the internet. It’s hard to imagine that era coming back, but it’s nice to enjoy a haven from the insanity of social media. 

I don’t expect much from the blog, and will promise even less. If anything, it’s a side dish. The audio stories are the main meals. But my mind likes to wander and sometimes it will settle here for a little while. Just like it did more than a decade ago.