Progressive Revelations: A look back and a look ahead
I started writing "Progressive Revelations" at the start of 1998. In terms of, like, the history of the world, that was yesterday. But more realistically, that was a pretty long time ago. I was a sophomore at Boston College then and my new editor position allowed me to essentially assign myself a humor column.
So that's what I did.
After the column ended in May of 2000, otherwise known as my graduation (seriously, that's how people refer to that time period), I re-started it at the start of 2001 in online form. Although 2001 is not quite as long ago as, say, 1998, that was also a pretty long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that I was one of the first humor columnists on this so-called Internet, when blogs were virtually non-existent, albeit not actually non-existent. ProgressiveRevelations.com now sits as one of the longest-running humor column websites on the Internet.
I never fully embraced the idea of blogs. I was a columnist, not a blogger. I created a blog, of course, because who am I not to cave in to societal tech trends? However, I used the blog less than sparingly. I clung to my software-designed website on a weekly basis despite the fact that I could only update the site from one computer. In the early years this site existed only on a desktop, one that I dragged with me to places where I'd be for over a week. Then, shortly after -- as in, like, 15 years -- I realized that I can change with the times. Twitter has already brought me closer to my readers, and I am happy to say that I have gained almost 189,798 followers since first initiating my account. That's only 471 fewer that what the population of Irvine, California, was in 2006 (thanks, Internet). So I've come to realize that I must embrace blogging in the same way that I embrace Twitter, which I most often update via my iPhone. I don't have to write columns every Tuesday -- that's old school. I can even write columns twice in one week. I can come out with a surprise album like Beyonce did (or were those songs?), or simply blog a paragraph of a humor column rather than writing a whole one.
I will, slowly but surely, transfer archived columns to this new set-up. In the meantime, I will continue to write about new adventures, thoughts and observations, and I will continue to update those who care along the way.
But I digress.
So that's what I did.
After the column ended in May of 2000, otherwise known as my graduation (seriously, that's how people refer to that time period), I re-started it at the start of 2001 in online form. Although 2001 is not quite as long ago as, say, 1998, that was also a pretty long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that I was one of the first humor columnists on this so-called Internet, when blogs were virtually non-existent, albeit not actually non-existent. ProgressiveRevelations.com now sits as one of the longest-running humor column websites on the Internet.
I never fully embraced the idea of blogs. I was a columnist, not a blogger. I created a blog, of course, because who am I not to cave in to societal tech trends? However, I used the blog less than sparingly. I clung to my software-designed website on a weekly basis despite the fact that I could only update the site from one computer. In the early years this site existed only on a desktop, one that I dragged with me to places where I'd be for over a week. Then, shortly after -- as in, like, 15 years -- I realized that I can change with the times. Twitter has already brought me closer to my readers, and I am happy to say that I have gained almost 189,798 followers since first initiating my account. That's only 471 fewer that what the population of Irvine, California, was in 2006 (thanks, Internet). So I've come to realize that I must embrace blogging in the same way that I embrace Twitter, which I most often update via my iPhone. I don't have to write columns every Tuesday -- that's old school. I can even write columns twice in one week. I can come out with a surprise album like Beyonce did (or were those songs?), or simply blog a paragraph of a humor column rather than writing a whole one.
I will, slowly but surely, transfer archived columns to this new set-up. In the meantime, I will continue to write about new adventures, thoughts and observations, and I will continue to update those who care along the way.
But I digress.
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