Last Published, Feb 15, 2008

Blog disappear. Most of the internet is a string of ghosttowns, founded when it seemed like a good idea and abandoned when the the gold was better elsewhere. 60% of new Twitterers abandon their accounts within the first month.

I myself have left my own string of ghost websites and blogs and profiles. Recently, I decided to search the interwebs for myself. My feelings were mixed when I found that I do, in fact, have a bit of a record in Google: a MySpace profile, a Facebook profile, and a Xanga blog, among other things. Apparently, I registered a domain name (http://www.shartstories.org/) at some point in the past and hosted my portfolio there, but I have no recollection of doing so. The site is long-defunct but other links on the web still point to it.

At the most recent end of my abandoned digital life lies this blog. Started to pass the hours in a drug research study (thus the URL), this blog was a first attempt at some sort of blog that wasn't just a public journal. In reality, I'm still not sure what people talk about when they're not talking about themselves, but I sometimes tried to figure it out here.

So now, somehow, in the way that life on the web goes, a year has passed since I last posted here, and for some reason, I am ready to bring it back. I know, the election cycle would have been a great time to get back into blogging, while everyone was expressing their thoughts to anyone who would listen (and I did more than a little bit of that in Facebook notes). And while I didn't post then, the whole election has prompted me to be more adament and vocal about what I believe than I have ever been before in my life.

Until recently, my beliefs have been defined by what I don't believe. And when I had beliefs, I kept them close to the chest, believing loudly-spoken convictions do no one any good. For the most part, I still believe that people are too eager to preach and not eager enough to listen. I believe in questions and doubt and suspicion. I believe in seeking much more than I believe in finding.

But the simple fact I have come to believe is that there's something to be said for seeking together, for questioning together. And there's also something to be said for taking stands sometimes, together.

And a blog is a place to practice that. To start a dialog. To take stands and ask questions at the appropriate times.

So I'm going to write again!