Thursday, July 23, 2009

Celebrating One Month!

Congratulations to my faithful readers for surviving the first month of this mind-expanding blog, and to my fresh readers for arriving at such an auspicious time!

As some of you are aware, this blog, along with its sibling(s), is a part of my plans for a Creative Writing Master's Thesis, which will ultimately qualify me to corrupt the youth of America.

Which means that it's time now to pause for reflection and feedback. I need to know as much as possible about how you read this blog, so I can make it better. So, feel free to respond as you will, or to use the following questions to guide you:

-What do you hope to get when you come to read this blog? How often are you disappointed? How often are you pleasantly surprised?

-What are you favorite and least favorite posts so far and why?

-Are you now, or have you ever been, invited to a communist party? Was it fun?

-Does this blog have any overall coherence/unity/ethos? If so, how would you describe it?

-Have you told anyone else about this blog? If so, what specifically inspired you to do so and what kind of person are you recommending this blog to?

-Do you think it's a coincidence that I started this blog exactly four months before my wedding without realizing I was doing so? Do you have any warnings for my future wife based on this coincidence or on general blog content?

Thank you in advance for any and all feedback.

4 comments:

  1. I hope to get: an interesting story about people I don't yet know. an interesting story about people I do know which helps me know them better. insight into something about which I hadn't realized my understanding was insufficient. suggestings of topics to further pursue.

    I have been invited to a Communist party. It was well-decorated and odd-smelling, but had a pleasantly ironic sense of humor.

    This blog doesn't have a lot of cohesion, at least not in the way your other two do. It's pretty scattered, with the primary common thread being you--your thoughts, experiences, and interests.

    It's coincidence in the denotated rather than the connotated sense, and I don't suspect there is anything about which I could warn your future wife that she doesn't already know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey... I am seriously loving all three of your blogs. I check every day, no matter where I am, to see if there have been any updates. When there are none, I read old posts. Since I've read all the old posts, I re-read old posts.

    My favorite posts are probably the ones about fictional non-fiction, or about the best movies that have never been made, although both of these frustrate me at times. You'll have to write Menachem Bloodaxe so I can read it. Not to mention producing Peak Oil: A Love Story.

    My other favorite posts have been about Russian and Iranian politics.

    While I have never been a party to a communist party, I have been both impartial observer and participant in several parties in formerly communist countries.

    This blog is like a kaleidascope of absurdist brilliance and sincere philosophy (in the literal sense, as a love of wisdom), a stream of pure wondrous awe at the inexplicable beauty of the universe. Besides that, it really is hilariously funny.

    I've recommended the blog to pretty much all of my roomates on this trip... Twice I've just been reading it, and then found something I had to read out loud. The third time, I had been discussing Iranian politics with one of my roomates who is Iranian-American, and that night I showed him your post on Hamedan politics, and he loved it. He said you were spot on. My friend N. liked the extracts I read so much that he looked the blog up himself the next time we had internet.

    As you can tell, I am a sincere fan. If blogs had book jackets, you could quote me on yours (and since we don't have the same last name, no one would call it nepotism!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I visit this blog out of obligation and charity. I feel like it's my duty to be informed of your whereabouts at specific times of the day, and the blog helps me keep track of you. I also know that we would have nothing to talk about if I didn't keep up with your blog, so some days I do neglect it just for the sake of silence.

    My favorites are definitely the Hamedan politics post and any post that includes the words "fiancee," "beautiful," "daughter-to-be," and the like. Hey, we all like praise. Everyone wants to judge because they don't have to track their loved ones through multiple blogs. (Three blogs! Do you think I ever see this man?)

    Since I throw all of the Communist parties around here, I've never actually been invited to one. Sad. I need more Communist friends with money.

    Keep telling stories. Story is key. Remember that you are tilting reality just enough to keep the rest of us conscious of the absurdity of this twenty-first century life we take for granted.

    Will you please throw a Communist party now?

    ReplyDelete
  4. confession: I haven't actually read any mormon midrashim posts yet. They just don't grab me the way the other two blogs do. Although maybe if I read one, I'd change my mind.

    I do enjoy this blog, although I have to keep reminding myself not to believe anything you say...as Grandma once wisely advised me to do with Uncle Dev'd.

    As you know, I am so crazy about caucajewmexdian that even though I can't spell it, I'm planning a take over.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails