Writing has always been a passion of mine. Since my wife died six years ago it has been therapy. Before I moved to Oregon two years ago I wrote a regular online column for the daily newspaper. When I moved here I started a little website to share my thoughts and activities with my friend, immodestly registering the URL halbrown.org (dot com wasn’t available).
Daily Kos was one of the five or six liberal websites I’d been reading for years. However it was only on March 23rd that I thought of a story (called diaries back in the day) I wanted to share. It was about the idea that Arnold Schwartzenegger would make a lot better candidate than Trump. Hardly anybody read it.
It wasn’t until I wrote about Bernie that, as judged by the number of comments (many angry and insulting), a fair number of Kossacks read it (see screenshot).
After that I was hooked. Most of us, if honest, will admit that we like the affirmation that comes when Kossacks like what we read. Before long I was posting a story a day. In the past two weeks I often posted two a day.
When Newsweek teased the first Newsweek bombshell and Rachel reported it in advance of publication, I put a story on about it that night, and I felt good because I helped out because it had over 40,000 Facebook shares.
I speculated whether this story would have an impact so I put a poll on. 5,888 of you took the poll. The results are an interesting reflection of our reader’s opinions and reality based cynicism. (see right)
All this is coming to an end. After the election there will be less and less to write about.
Sometimes I think of a story when I am falling asleep, sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night. Last night I woke up and thought that Hillary effectively learned to get under Trump’s skin. I thought she had to be taught to d this unnatural behavior by the psychologists advising her. Sadism comes naturally to Trump. I got the image of Hillary being told he has to take away a child’s favorite toys while he is playing with them.
I came up with the imaginary response after the first debate: “He made me do it, I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want to do it.” (Of course it’s a perverse version of the classic Patsy Kline song.) Not enough for a Kos story.
I recognize the dozen or so Kos staffers whose stories make the left scroll-down. I also recognize by name 10-20 story writers on the left column, and check several times a day to see that the latest pieces posted in “Recent Stories.”
When I’ve posted a story I also look to see how far down the column my story has fallen.
All this brings me to the serious personal quandary I will face. Because I spend at least two hours a day writing about politics, what will I do to fill this time?
It’s been difficult enough watching MSNBC alone, watching historic events like the debates without my wife… she’d have been in the kitchen in sight of the TV baking cookies… but I could groan and lament in her direction.
I think and still get choked up remembering the historic events we shared together — the moon landing, Bobby Kennedy getting killed, 9-11 — now I rely on my online Kos community.
I was thinking I may take on a new challenge that suited me, perhaps buying the top-of-the line $450 Photoshop and learning to use it.
Knowing myself what I will probably to is just go up to Waterfalls Cafe, the coffee shop at the senior community where I live, earlier in the morning. At least I’ll have people to talk to.
