A couple of quick things…
1. I haven’t gone anywhere. I am not going to stop writing. Life has just been too busy to write the material I want to write at the level of quality I want to write it at: My responsibilities include a two year old toddler and an eight year old grade-school age child, and those are the sorts of entities that just need to be prioritized over a lot of other things. My current job has me working in group home environment with those who have IDD spectrum disorders seven days in a row…and while that comes with seven days off in a row, that means there are a lot of adult responsibilities that get shifted into that one week and time is at a premium.
While I know that my work is absolutely coated in spelling and grammar errors, that’s not the metric by which I am measuring quality typically: I want my content to be on point. When I wrote about my thoughts on Folkism and Metagenetics? A lot of research went into that, because I wanted to make sure that before I got critical I knew exactly what I was talking about. When I offered my own ethical code in response to my issues with the NNV, I made sure that this was material that said something I could be proud of. When I post something here, it’s very rare that it’s something I haven’t put a lot of time, research, and consideration into. Perhaps in some of my earlier material, when I had absolutely no audience to speak of and the stakes (such as they were) felt non-existent, I was willing to be a little more careless.
That’s not where I am now; a lot of people have read my work, and a lot of people will probably to continue to read my work. While I do try and improve my content in terms of it’s spelling and quality of form, it’s the quality of material that I’m just not really willing to budge on. That could mean there will be very little in terms of content written for quite some time, and I don’t like that at all…but I’d rather write a small amount of amazing material then a decent volume of mediocre nonsense.
2. There is just a lot of nonsense happening all the time, and it makes it hard to know where to start: There is a bit that Lewis Black does where he talked about how it’s tough doing comedy when there is so much going on. While I wouldn’t call my work here comedy, I will say that I feel like it’s tough talking about the affairs of the day in any sort of informed, timely matter when there is so much going on.
When Heathens United Against Racism fractured and broke apart, it was a lot to think about. When the Black Lives Matter groups started getting criticism from a lot of pockets in Heathenry, there was even more going on. All the while, there was the legal case involving Mark Stinson and that was also a lot to consider*. When that case finally resolved, there was even more to consider. All the while, the heads of the AFA and the Troth have hardly been silent, and many of there statements could have crafted entire volumes of commentaries, reflections, and musings. How about that Icelandic temple that had to close its doors to the public because there were some American Heathens who just were unwilling to let Icelandic Heathen be able to practice their own faith without showing them how to do it “right”? That was a can of worms too…
…and there is just so much going on that keeping track of it all feels almost impossible. There is just so much to say, and not nearly enough hours in the day to say it all. Combined with my time crunch, it’s made it hard to even know where to begin. This is also to the side of all of the stuff I just want to write because it comes to mind and I think it would make an interesting point of discussion.
3. I am on Tumblr, and you might want to follow me there: If you actually like some of what I have to say? You may want to follow me on Tumblr. I have the ask feature enabled, so anyone with some random questions for me can feel free to send them my way. The content I post/repost on there is a lot more of the “whatever is on my mind” and “this is neat/funny” varieties, so know that the topics are less “Heathen” and more “Harrison, who also happens to be Heathen”.
Interested parties should just check for me over at Tumblr. While I am committed to keeping my material full of quality and research here, Tumblr is more or less for my opinions, so you’ll probably see a little more from me there.
That’s it for now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish some articles soon and have something for you all to read before long. In the mean time, just know that I’m still around….life is just busy!
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*Some may feel it cheap to talk about Stinson’s issues as if they were matters of public concern; I disagree with this suggestion. Stinson took time out of his life to write/compile his views on Heathen ethics, put them together in a well edited and proofed PDF, and then placed them on a digital platform (JBK’s website) where they could be easily and rapidly distributed. So when he makes an ethical blunder that directly relates to some of the very few Heathen values that almost everyone agrees upon? The community as a whole gets to comment just as much on Stinson as Stinson was able to comment on the community.
Kvasir Amongst the Gods 