Even though I wrote every assignment I gave right along with my students, I also felt I should be writing in my most natural narrative genre, the personal essay. The idea of having a site on the Internet appealed to me in that other people could see and hopefully react to my writing.
I set out to make my blog a real reflection of my opinions, thoughts, and ideas. It was going to be my voice and my slant on a variety of topics. It wasn't going to be about any one thing. It was merely whatever I decided was under my purview at the time. That's why I chose Dept. of Nance. Whatever I wrote about was in my Department.
In 2007 I wrote a post about what it would be like if the Dept. of Nance ever became a real government department. You can find it here. It makes me laugh. I made a list of things I would immediately do in my First 100 Days, and I must say that I have to strike #5 off that list. I would, however, still like to have the Dept. of Nance become a government entity and help President Biden take care of some business. My Teacher Voice is still pretty commanding, and I don't put up with much.
What's the story behind your blog's name? If you don't have one, what would your blog name be if you did?
I have had several starting with Tangled Up in Sticks and String (self-explanatory). Then Pointy Little Sticks when I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes --I play with all KINDS of pointy sticks. It was a way of dealing with something I was not pleased about. Going Old School (and now Cedar Hill Schoolhouse) ... it is where I live. My house was once a two-room stone school house, Cedar Hill Schoolhouse, built is 1952 and was an active school until sometime in the late 1930s. After that it was turned into a residence and we are only the second family to own it. The George's owned it from the 1930's until 2017.
ReplyDeleteDee--I love hearing the evolution of your blog names and the stories behind it. I know you love your schoolhouse, too.
DeleteI also think you have a terrific tagline for your blog. It's my favourite!
Your 2007 post had me laughing too, it was so good. We do need you in a government office! Oh and thank you for striking #5, but maybe instead of striking it the rule should be that leggings may only be worn with long shirts.
ReplyDeleteMy blog name came to be because I live down the street from the beach and love living a simple life.
Martha--Oh, thank you. I do think I'd be a big help.
DeleteListen, I'm being entirely self-serving when I say I'd strike #5. I live in leggings for almost three seasons now in NEO. I became a convert when I found out that a friend older than I was wearing them, and with impunity. I like your amendment to Rule 5.
Your blog name is a fine description of your life. I'm sure so many people would love to live down the street from the beach.
My blog was an eponymous hardcopy "quarterly" (which soon became triannual, then biannual and then annual) magazine of which I ultimately published 13 issues ranging from 16 to 28 pages (copied and saddle-bound by our local Kinko's) before I was unable to overcome the demands of the day job and of caring for aging parents. Each issue featured a cartoon caricature of myself on the cover and addressed some variation of the premier issue's "politically incorrect" descriptor. Cartoons, essays, stories, poems, spurious letters to the editor and classified ads - anything I wanted to include. It was, as the subtitle proclaimed, the "ultimate ego trip." It was a great vehicle and a lot of fun. I may not have sufficient drive to revive the whole magazine online, but as soon as I get a scanner that works, I'm at least going to start posting the best of the cartoons on my Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteYahoonski--What an undertaking! Publishing a zine of your own with that many pages and of that many copies was a labour of love. Or, as you said, ego, but either way, it took a lot of time and creativity.
DeleteI understand the time required for aging parents. It's all-consuming. Bless you.
I went back and read your old post. Such great ideas, I do think you should be appointed. And I love that Rick wants to be your driver, and Mikey wants to be your cook. You would obviously do a lot of good in the world. Well, the solar system, including Pluto.
ReplyDeleteI started my blog because when Ted and I would go out to dinner, I would give him a verbal review of the restaurant, and he said, “You should have a blog, so you could review restaurants there.” I didn’t really like that idea much, as it would be very limiting and I didn’t want the constraints of one subject. So I decided to write about whatever I wanted, whatever I was Thinking About.
(Sadly I cannot make the little comment box any larger, so I can’t tell if I’ve made any typos. Once the comment is submitted I can. Getting older sucks.)
J--I still mourn Pluto's lack of status. So, so very unfair. BRING BACK PLUTO.
DeleteI always love coming to your blog. It's not only what you're Thinking About, but it becomes something I get to Think About as well. Your conversational style is so approachable and slyly witty. I wish you wrote more often, but then, unless I'm doing a challenge like this, I wish I wrote more often,too.
Please don't worry EVER about making typos or other errors. The Commments area is a casual, chatty space for friends, and we don't harp on things like that. If anyone does, they adopt the Thumper Rule, and keep it to themselves. XO
Your comment about writers seeing the world differently has really been hitting home lately. Because I write a fairly thorough journal while I'm traveling, I'm usually trying to pay more attention to some of the details around me. And while the primary motivation is to be able to write about the experiences, this extra perception ends up adding to the experiences themselves. Even though my journal entries aren't always particularly creative, I find the experience of debriefing useful.
ReplyDeleteAlso, at this point, I have about a thousand pages of them, and it's amazing to go back to a random one and see some of the details that I had written about but had since forgotten.
Do you ever find yourself looking through old blogposts and being reminded of some small details?
Mikey--You'll be so glad of all of your travel journals. And debriefing as immediately as possible (after some reflection, of course) will only enhance them. Nuance adds so much to writing, just as seeing a street cat or an arguing couple or a funny sign can add something extra to your experience of a particular place. It can propel you back there with more intensity when you recall it, reading your journal entry about it.
DeleteI do read my archives every once in a while. They help me place certain events, and they do remind me of little things. I know lots of bloggers who maintain a blog for just this reason. It's their online memory bank.
That's simple...I like birding...owls are my favorites...Bud has many time said I was a hoot...name, anni, - a fun get-together. Hence, hootenanny! (And the addition of Day tripping is also obvious)
ReplyDeleteAnni--Your blog name is clever and fun to say. It describes your blog's content perfectly.
DeleteLOL - laughing over your list of things you'd do in the first 100 days. I agree with doing away with #5. The rest are definitely legitimate though!! My blog The Threaded Lane is pretty obvious - my last name is Lane and the blog is a lot about knitting and stitching...so threads...
ReplyDeleteVera--I'm ashamed to tell you how long it took me to put that together. I will say, though, that I was unaware of your last name until this year, I think. I did get the Thread part right off the bat!
DeleteI live in leggings most of the year when it's not too warm. My 2007 self would be mortified. ;)
I think this should be forwarded to Biden's team building team....you'd be short-listed for Education Secretary at the very least!!! Yeah...you really do need to at least amend #5 to something like 'no leggings without a long shirt' or something like that. My blog for years and years was Woolythyme....a play on all the knitting I did (wooly-time) as well as all the gardening I wanted to do. My blog now comes off of what is mainly a photography platform and apparently having your name associated with your art form is the way things are done in the photo world. I do find it rather strange that such a creative format has such a mundane unwritten rule. I suppose most people actually want to sell!!!?? their work and make it easy for people to find them!!!??? I probably should have stuck with woolythyme...I actually had a pretty nice following back in the day!
ReplyDeletesteph--Oh, thank you; you're too kind. I want nothing to do with the Dept. of Education unless I can barge in and really clean house, and that means get rid of any scrap of No Child Left Behind, which was an unfunded mandate that did nothing but lead to rafts of horrific testing.
DeleteDo NOT get me started.
Anyway. If your blog platform is too restrictive and you're not interested in monetizing, why not find a more suitable platform? I do think your photography is lovely, though.
My blog's name is because I liked the spectacled bear at the zoo. While I was reading the information about him, I had an epiphany that I could call my blog The Spectacled Bean because: 1) I wear eyeglasses; and 2) my blogging nom de plume is Ally BEAN, which is a word very close to the spelling of the word "bear."
ReplyDeleteAlly Bean--I like that bear, too. I find the origin of your blog name charming. How did you resist using the spectacled bear or even a bean with glasses as your mascot/avatar?
DeleteI started out trying to make an avatar of a bean with glasses but it looked ridiculous. I couldn't do it. So I went with a photo of some colorful fabric, thinking it represented all the colors I see in my life. Through my spectacled eyes, of course. Turns out people remember my avatar because it's different from seeing a face. Stumbled into that, I did.
DeleteNance, your 2007 blog was entertaining. Interesting that even 13 yrs ago, there was a call to make life better and more civil. I don't have a blog but if I did there are two options for a title. 1) M2Muse. The double M of my given and surname. Also, M2 is in the family's cattle brand. Muse comes from the motivation I have to inspire others. 2) Morningside. Canadian Peter Gzowski hosted a radio program called Morningside (1976-1996) with discussions of all things Canadiana. But more importantly, I love mornings - the morning light coming through the east-facing windows, the dawn of a new day ripe with potential and when I have the most energy and do my best work.
ReplyDeleteMona--Thank you.
DeleteI noticed that in the post as well. It seems we've merely deteriorated to our lowest point, doesn't it? How sad.
Both of those potential blog names are great. But, forgive me, I am quite excited to know that YOUR FAMILY HAS COWS!
I am absolutely crazy about cows and have been since birth, practically. I'm over the moon here (pun intended) with joy. Canadian AND cows...! What a wonderful day.
I started to blog because I was urged to do so by a friend of one of my daughters, on whose blog I had been leaving tedious comments. And the title is meant to be a reminder to me not to take myself too seriously. As I am sure you have spotted, it is from Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair', and the guy who actually said it is a minor character - someone's boyfriend. Name is gone for the moment.
ReplyDeleteI have been your fan for years and would be so no matter what you call yourself.
Fred Bullock.
ReplyDeleteJust read The List. And yes, if you run for office, that works for me, including the leggings, or at least jeggings. Nance for Benevolent Dictator!!! Vote now.
ReplyDeleteMary -- I had no idea your blog title was from Vanity Fair. I read it in excerpt only, and that line escaped me. Perhaps I shall put it on my To Read list now and fully acquaint myself once and for all. It has been aeons.
DeleteI'm so glad you have your own spot, and I wish you could write more often there. I know what it's like, though. If not for this challenge, we both know I'd be far more sporadic in my own posting.
As a dictator, I'd be both benevolent and largely l'aissez faire, once I got a few pet peeves out of the way. You know, just to make things Nice. ;)
My University offered a degree in English literature and they were not kidding. We did venture into Scotland and Ireland rarely, but no other country got in, not the States and certainly not Canada. So yeah, i read Vanity Fair right through. And a fat lot,of good it did me.
DeleteMy blog name came from the fact that people would sometimes call me Danabug. I thought I was going to be TOTALLY ANONYMOUS so I could write all the things that might scandalize my family, but it turns out I'm terrible at keeping secrets. I now email it to them all weekly. SMH
ReplyDeleteI started the blog because I wanted to wake up my muse. And I did do some real writing for a while (real for me anyway), but now I'm just mainly doing that weekly photo post, and monthly book reviews. I'd like to get back to writing, but I think I have a Brain Cloud (Joe vs. the Volcano reference).
I love your list! I think that if you were to enforce & assign a fine to #6, we could actually do something about the deficit this year!
Bug--My family are all totally aware of my blog and, with VERY few exceptions, have chosen to totally ignore it. Isn't that supportive of them? I still don't talk about them in anything but the kindest of terms despite that.
DeleteI cannot imagine you scandalizing anyone, for the record. LOL.
I think that, if you really wanted to, you could get back to Real Writing.
Thank you for complimenting my past blog entry. I still do like my List, too. I worry, with regard to #6, that everyone rushing holidays this year "because of the pandemic" is a terribly slippery slope. Just like stores deciding to open for shopping on Thanksgiving. Now it's A Thing, and no one bats an eye. Mark my words--once the pandemic is over, people will still start Halloween in August and Christmas in October. And no one will stop it unless I get my Official Government Department.
Thank goodness you took #5 off the list; life would be miserable without leggings lately.
ReplyDeleteI love the name of your blog as it suits you perfectly.
Me? Well, I like to make a big deal about the littlest things; but in actuality, it's just me being sarcastic about making a big deal out of little things. One of my most famous phrases to my family is "I have to do everything around here!" even if they just ask a simple question.
BB Suz--Thank you.
DeleteI understand, but it still seems like you're pretty darn busy down there in FLA.