Post Number 200, And What This Has All Meant to Me So Far: Sunday Journal

It all began last September with a little wooden roller coaster that was soon to close at the amusement park of my childhood.

Now it's 200 entries later!  I have enjoyed the production of this Journal of Reinvention, and look forward to the next 200 posts.  As much as I try to shape its direction,  the topics and the things that insist on being put into words often surprise me. 

It's sometimes hard work, and it keeps me up way too late some nights, and yet it tugs at me to get it done, to get my thoughts out there, to please my readers and not let them down, and to work the writing until it's right and true.  

Mostly, it has been the regular visits and encouragement of you followers and readers that has motivated me to keep it going, when at times it seems as though it is not important, as though sustaining the effort is futile, fruitless.  I thank you for sticking with me.   You are in my personal Hall of Fame in the right hand column.........

In the end, I am enjoying participating in what I view as an on-line conversation.

This is my "newspaper column", my editorial page, my forum, my experiment, my writing exercise.  I can try new things here, put forth my opinion on world events and politics and culture, speak the thoughts of others or hit a nerve with some, and engage readers in the conversation.  In another time and place, I might have been a Roger Ebert, or Irv Kupcinet, or any number of regular columnists, treating a different topic each day, a kaleidoscope of things of interest to me that I hope will capture the imagination, or spark a reaction, from others.

Among the many items I have enjoyed sharing with you:

--The Christopher Isherwood series, in keeping with the release of "A Single Man". 

--The film and theater and book reviews: Cabaret; Citizen Kane; Hair (on Broadway!) August: Osage County; Olive Kitteridge; Billy Elliott, and many more.  One review I'm most proud of is  my lone voice in the wilderness championing the merits of Nine.  I think that some day someone more intelligent and articulate than myself will rediscover Nine and extol its virtues and set it on the road to classic status.

--A look at Oscar 40 years ago, in 1969.  I invite you all to re-visit 1970 when the next Oscar nominations are announced.  40 years from now, in whatever format blogs will have taken by then, I will look back at how time has treated Avatar and The Hurt Locker and Precious and Inglourious...

--"Lucia" the 3-minute short story

--Anecdotes from Phoenix, and New York

--My Italian heritage, and my plunge into learning to speak the ancestral language. 

--My essay about the breakwater in Cape Cod, and how the stepping stones represented a metaphor for my creative life.

--Most of all,  the animal stories....Remembering Maggie and sharing her with you.....the baby pigeon lost in the snow that "saved" my life....the magical and heartbreaking stories at the Dog Shelter where I spend time on Tuesdays...and my last post, about the outrage and sadness of the treatment of dairy cows on one farm in Ohio, which could be the most emotional and saddening story I think I have yet written. This one will definitely be a life-changer for me.

I would be proud to know what any of you remember as a favorite entry from this journal...

So, what about this re-invention idea?  I started out to chronicle the changes I was actively making to become a better, more useful and creative person; to share and give encouragement to those who wanted to explore new avenues of life. This would be my own space where everyone was welcome.  And I was excited to visit other blogs, and respond and learn from them too.  Sometimes, the changes happened by happy accident.  I may not be a wholly different person, but I have done more and newer things and am ready to keep exploring.  Great things could be ahead... 

And a lot has changed...I am in a new residence....have become directly involved in animal care and advocacy...Actively learning a new language.... I'm not afraid to express my opinions and back them up with research.....and I have a liberating inkling that much more is possible.

Most of all, it is this process,  this blog creating this desire within me to channel my writing in a new direction, and for an immediate readership, that has been the most significant way I have re-invented myself since last September.

I am excited to see where this journal continues to lead. I will be happy to have you along on this journey, as I will be proud to accompany you on yours.  On to 200 more.....