meta matters

Ok, I'm going to write about this blog a little bit. Forgive me.

This new blog has a small / healthy / robust / devoted group of readers who come back and read on a regular basis. I am grateful for every last one one of you...and I understand that you read and participate, or not, at your own pleasure...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

One salient result of the size and intimacy of this blog is that I don't feel like bullshitting, and I don't intend to.

Starting k/o has been eye-opening.

I launched not with any deliberate timing but because, literally, wendell gee, myshkin and awol (friends you may know from dKos) accosted me after a dinner party at awol's house and insisted that I start a blog now. That was four weeks ago. What you've seen here is the result of that prodding, and I owe a debt of gratitude to them for their continued help and support. (Now if I could only get them to comment here more often...)

At any rate, up to that point, though I was a "blog reader" and a participant at dailykos...I didn't know squat about how "blogging" really works outside of dKos. It shows.

I'm catching some heavy drift.

For one, while having what I consider a shockingly successful...and truly rewarding...launch these last weeks...I've definitely got a sense that I'm making a fresh start, and that I should make a fresh start with all that phrase entails.

I'm going to flub up, make mistakes, try shit out and experiment. But you knew that already. I know I need to learn how to make friends and win respect and readers....and that's a good thing. I don't take anything for granted.

I intend to keep a sense of humor and openess about things...so please always feel free to tell me what you think. I'm all ears.

My main goal is to give you good content that lives up to your readership with a minimum of hype, bs and ulterior motives. That may seem an 'obvious' statement. But I mean it. I want to do with k/o, what I tried to do writing as "kid oakland" elsewhere...which is simply to stay true to myself and to my politics.

The best answer I can give to someone who wonders what that 'politics' is...is simply to say, look at what I've done and written and look at what I'm doing now. That's my politics. I hope k/o helps make this clear.

This blog is not the end of the matter for me. I'm interested in participating in community blogs, and will continue to do so. Heck, I'd like to see more community blogs form. There's plenty of "space" that is underserved right now. We'll just have to see.

(Please, point me to anything....news, blogs, sites, essays, music you think I might find interesting: kidoaklandatcomcastdotnet......or drop a comment!)

For now, clearly, I'm here, and, at times, overwhelmed.

You see, on a practical note...I work...in photography...and often work long days to make a living in this cruel world of ours. (I'm kidding, I love what I do.) Due to this "working" thing, I just won't have content that rocks anyone's world every single day. I'll try my best, and trust that you know how to find good stuff here and elsewhere....as I'm sure you do.

peace to you,
paul / kid o.

ps. on a side note, I had to change the blog network thing. It wasn't turning over, and it was getting spammed. We'll see how 24h cycle works.