I published this post seven years ago and decided it seemed as apt and relevant today as it did all those years ago.
I blog because I am a collector, a magpie attracted to shiny things — not all beautiful, but for some reason of interest. In the old days, I kept notebooks with photocopied images, postcards, and lots of little baskets filled with peculiar objects that had no function other than that they were attractive to my magpie brain, and I couldn't bring myself to clean them out. I built a sizable bower around my desk of stuff. But the internet is a vast forest of shiny things, images, people, and places I might never have found in the material world. So, I have shifted my acquisitive self from the cluttered realm of my desk to the endless capacity of my desktop.
I have been blogging here since 2007, and I have used the blog to keep together all the treasures I have found and share them with others from this internet bower. Some posts and images are personal — a copy of my father's name on a document at Ellis Island, the textiles produced by the women of my family, my grandfather's paintings, and my garden. Some are quirky, like Samurai armor for dogs, vintage Mexican Paper Dolls, and my great-grandmother's calling cards. Some posts have brought gifts, which I have re-gifted, such as the disk of 700 photos from Pinky Werner of Madrid, NM, where my grandfather briefly worked, and which, over the last two years, has generated a renewed interest in the old mining town, especially among the descendants whose relatives once lived there. (Pinky's photographs remain to date one of the best visual records of Madrid, and I have had the pleasure of not only sharing them on my blog but donating copies of the disk to former residents, graduate students, and art institutions — ensuring for the future the history of the town.) Through posts on my grandfather, I was "discovered" by a maternal cousin, Earl (another magpie!), and with his help, I have been able, at long last, to fill in the complicated backstory of my mother's family.
So there it is- I keep my treasures in front of me on the blog, sharing them with anyone interested and delighted when they are. Nothing is lost; I can use the search function to find an item from long ago (I couldn't do that with my filing cabinet!). And I blog because it's easier than having to clean my desk.
Art: Rubans Peale "Magpie and Cake," Toshi Yoshida, "Plum Tree and Blue Magpie," Eduoard Travies, "Magpie."
I’ve found over the years, especially since the advent of big corporate social media, that the people who still maintain blogs tend to be interesting, unconventional, hard-to-classify thinkers. As someone who used to do lots of paid freelance writing, I find blogging liberating: I can get paid 200 bucks to write some short article that will get edited to pieces and submerged in some archive, or I can write a piece exactly as I like, post it myself, and watch as people use search engines to discover the post, again and again, for years to come.
I’ll look forward to seeing where your blog goes next—especially since I’m a fiber-arts rarity: a male needle felter, albeit quite the amateur…
I completely agree with you about the freedom to create one’s place on the internet. I like feeling that it is always evolving — and there is also a pleasure, like going through old journals — of reminding oneself of the long process of thinking and reading and writing over the years.
And oh my goodness! I went to your blog and what a treasure trove it is! We have been online the same amount of time too — I am so looking forward to reading through your archives — so much there that is interesting! Thank you for coming here.
Hi Midori-
I guess old age is setting in since I cannot make your email address work.
I had not been to your blog in a very long time. I was wowed with what you have added in photos and commentary. I especially enjoyed Jerry’s recollections. I never dreamed that so many of the photos I scanned would make it to the internet for the world to see. Thank you. I’m not sure if you realize the Christmas card that you posted was a Pierre original sent to my grandparents. Also, until George Kaseman’s death in 1938, the mining operation was owned by him. My grandfather was Superintendent of the mines until then.
Thank you for making Madrid come alive. I often wonder what it would be like to live in a community with so such spirit and camaraderie.
Hope you and your husband enjoy Boulder. Glad I don’t have to shovel snow.
Thanks,
Pinky
Hi Pinky,
Wonderful to hear from you! I am also so grateful to you for sharing the photos and information about Madrid — Jerry’s recollections are so vivid and so important to the younger descendants of Madrid wanting to know more about their relatives lives in Madrid.
Spirit and Camraderie — yes! I see it in the photos often. The musicians at picnics and outtings, the fourth of July events, the local boxing, the faces of the children (growing up over successive years) in the school photos, the photos of the baseball teams and the same faces in the group photos of the miners.
All best, Midori