It’s A Wonderful Life

by digby

It seems like only yesterday that Atrios convinced me to “get a blog, dammit” and I started this little venture. But it wasn’t. It was five years and more than 5,000 posts ago. Hard to believe.

A lot has happened since then, to progressive politics, to the netroots and to me. This year in particular was a milestone for yours truly. I left my secure bunker in the People’s Republic of Santa Monica and revealed myself publicly. For an anxiety sufferer and devoted recluse, it was one of the most difficult things I’ve done in a very long time. But, it was also amazingly gratifying to accept an award on behalf of the progressive blogoshere and personally meet so many people whom I’d already known as close friends and allies online. It’s good to be human.

I went on to meet hundreds of readers and fellow bloggers at Yearly Kos. I joined my great pals at FDL, Crooks and Liars and Down With Tyranny as a member of the progressive PAC, Blue America. I was invited to contribute to my friend Rick Perlstein’s new blog for Campaign For America’s Future, The Big Con, dissecting and discussing the conservative movement. And I began work on a couple of longer form projects that should see fruition in this coming year.

And here on Hullabaloo, along with many of you, I watched and wrote and read and talked about politics and culture pretty much 24/7. I had the support of my talented friends tristero and poputonian when they have time and the inclination. And one of my oldest friends in the world, the addicted cinephile Dennis Hartley, writes the weekly movie reviews that give me a few hours off every Saturday Night. It’s been a very full year.

So, as I have the last couple of years, I am once again appealing to my readers at Christmastime to throw a couple of coins in the old tip jars over there at left, to help support this little venture. The blogosphere is changing, becoming much more sophisticated and much more innovative. It has to. I’m a dinosaur in many ways, still plugging along on my own, writing on a random daily schedule and basically following my bliss. It’s not necessarily the smart move, but it’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done and I’m loathe to change it. Perhaps, for a while, there’s still a place for the (almost) lone blogger like me to keep doing this the old fashioned way.

I greatly value the freedom and independence that voluntary direct support from readers offers. It’s an unusual model, but it works quite well for some, including me. So, if you like what I’m doing here, and if you have your credit cards out doing some last minute online shopping today, perhaps you could send a little stocking stuffer my way, via paypal, snail or amazon, all of which are available on the left column over there.

And thanks, everybody, it’s been a great ride.

But fasten your seatbelts — this next year is going to be a doozy.

cheers — digby

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