Back to Upchucking

Well, it's been a long, long stretch of emptiness on the Upchuck. I think I'm missing it a bit. In a way, I've kinda substituted Facebook for blogging. Doing so has its merits, for sure. I have a ready audience of some 800+ readers through my FB friends. And my blog type status updates on FB are guaranteed to elicit response from at least a core group of folks. However ...

I'm not so sure I like using Facebook in this way. I also like Facebook just as a way to keep up with friendships and family; and my blogging style can be kind of alienating to some folks on Facebook that does some damage to my friendships on FB. For instance, since I really heated up my polemics on FB during the Presidential election campaign, I've noticed that my FB friends numbers have dropped a bit. Just a handful or so, but it's something I noticed. And I don't really like it.

I think why I'm bothered by this is that a lot of my FB friends are on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, and these are people whose company and camaraderie I have enjoyed for over 30+ years. Many of my High School buddies are conservative. Many of my childhood friends from elementary school and the old Kenner/Metairie suburbs are conservative. And I like them all. They are really good people at their core. And I don't like to think that they maybe find my politics a bit distasteful, off-putting, and perhaps even offensive. Now let me say that I am by no means apologetic or sorry for my politics, and for expressing them publicly and forcefully; but I am bothered by the idea that I may be pushing myself in the faces of those good people who might prefer not to be subject to my rants. So, I think I'm just going to do my best to try to keep my politics here on the Upchuck, and to try to minimize that stuff on Facebook.

All this to say that I'm putting the Upchuck back into business. I make no promises as to how often and frequently I will be putting up blog postings, but I'm going to try to keep my rants here for the most part. I may link to my blog from FB; but I think that provides enough distance and remove such that my FB friends won't feel so directly besieged by my rants, such as they are.

And I welcome any who want to engage me to do so here.