{"id":2949,"date":"2011-07-18T11:01:27","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T16:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=2949"},"modified":"2011-07-18T17:58:59","modified_gmt":"2011-07-18T22:58:59","slug":"forward-slash-and-burn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/07\/forward-slash-and-burn\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward Slash and Burn"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a reversal. Brick<\/strong> is all about the new. Live in the present, look toward the future. Dwell just a little on what’s past.<\/p>\n

But the URL from which it sprang, benpollock.com, has been neglected. Oh, I tell myself, it’s an archive. It works well enough. Fast-loading, a reference for me when I am writing far from my files at home. Perhaps occasional readers of Brick<\/strong> head back there to see earlier work.<\/p>\n

Usually I think these old essays get opened because of obscure search keywords people type into Google. As for me when I have reviewed its contents, it looks like a pile of junk. This past spring, however, I dived in, to ensure I wasn’t repeating myself in a new Brick<\/strong>, and saw lots of good writing, good organization and even wit. Amid only a few clunkers.<\/p>\n

Logical enough. “Leave well enough alone,” my late Uncle Al Pollock was fond of saying. The website that appears before the forward slash, benpollock.com, is an archive of some five dozen columns I wrote for newspapers, real newspapers.<\/p>\n

\"benpollock.com<\/a>The website looks like it was built in 2002, because it was. Pure html<\/a> code, not a lick of CSS<\/a>, which was not widespread yet (if not in common use, it wouldn’t work for most people’s computers). No frames or other bells and whistles, though. I always liked a clean look. The yellow legal-pad image indicated my preference for writing longhand. Almost 10 years later, though, and you can almost see the edges curling from rot and smell the mildew.<\/p>\n

Facts belie the logic. Analytics indicate all sorts of people go there and open the supposedly greatest hits of\u00a0 my late ’80s-early ’90s newspaper columns, collectively called Mirthology<\/strong>, and my 1\/1999-9\/2001 newspaper columns collectively called Loose Leaves<\/strong>.\u00a0 Plus a few guest columns. These two standing heds<\/a> indicate my goals, humor in the first and mixed topics for the latter.<\/p>\n

Forget all the muckety-mucks<\/a> I’ve had to deal with and work under for decades:<\/p>\n

My copy doesn’t suck.<\/p>\n

Maybe if the parlor in which the columns are displayed was spruced up — paint the walls, wash the windows — my morale would improve and I’d write more in Brick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But my “free time” throughout 2011, until June 26, was too busy for the mindset I need for visual work and coding. I did have a few design ideas, but neither time nor energy to fiddle them up. Then the annual columnists conference<\/a> — where I played a daily, consuming (though secondary) planning role — adjourned.<\/p>\n

\"benpollock.com<\/a>The Web rework is done. The curio cabinets and shelving are ready.<\/p>\n

Even though my old columns through unbiased eyes — your eyes — surely are uneven, they deserve being seen in a display case, not stuck in a cardboard box on a high, dusty shelf.<\/p>\n

Hearing a week ago that cartoonist Vic Harville had retired<\/a> as cartoonist for Stephens Media as of July 1 was the final impetus to complete the redesign of Mirthology: A Loose Leaflet<\/strong><\/a>. Vic illustrated several Mirthology<\/strong> columns, as did John Deering<\/a>. Cici Davidson<\/a> drew numerous sketches that ran with the column. After hours of searching, I found many of the original “boards” in an oversize manila envelope in that very box on a truly high, dusty shelf last weekend.<\/p>\n

Those works are heading for a scanner and eventual uploading to benpollock.com<\/strong><\/a>. I want to show off the art of my longtime friends.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I am working on new columns here in Brick<\/strong>, the website that follows the forward slash of benpollock.com. The Mirthologist is proud of the past, but he will not move back there. Onward.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a reversal. Brick is all about the new. Live in the present, look toward the future. Dwell just a little on what’s past. But the URL from which it sprang, benpollock.com, has been neglected. Oh, I tell myself, it’s an archive. It works well enough. Fast-loading, a reference for me when I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical-difficulties"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/11\/cutting-myself\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":0},"title":"Cutting myself","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 8, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Monday, Nov. 8, 2004: I may see a trend in this Brick business, a hierarchy. When I work for pay, or at least print publication, I not only think hard about clarity of thought in the writing but how to frame the published writing to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/07\/a-block-is-not-a-brick\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":1},"title":"A block is not a brick","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"July 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Wednesday, July 13, 2005. So what I do is just admit my fear. Look at this gap in time: days since the last Brick, feels like a month. Why? A lack of topics as well as a lack of opinions? No. It was the feeling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/01\/resolution-desk\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":2},"title":"Resolution Desk","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This must be the way to get a couple of New Year's resolutions accomplished: Start and finish early. It works, it has to work this time. On Dec. 26, My Beloved and I returned to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet. By mid-month, I dropped nine pounds and relaxed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1701,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/12\/absence-makes-blogs-shorter\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":3},"title":"Absence Makes Blogs Shorter","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Brick has been sporadic for some weeks. With luck, it will be more active in December. Want an excuse? How about National Novel Writing Month. It\u2019s 50,000 words to create a first draft of a novel (around a 200-page book) in 30 days. November is the one. My third try,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"National Novel Writing Month","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/nano_09_winner_120x240.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":187,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/05\/rapport-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":4},"title":"Rapport Report","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Falling into the bloggers' venue of commenting on every darn thing is not the plan of Brick, but when everyone's doing it? Topic: The 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner's keynote address by satirist Stephen Colbert. I had not been a major fan of the new series The Colbert Report (pronounced\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/the-60-second-blogger\/","url_meta":{"origin":2949,"position":5},"title":"The 60-second blogger","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, May 1, 2005. Can there be a 60-second blogger or columnist or essayist, in the manner of Dan Hurley's \"60-Second Novelist\"? Yes. Why else pose the question? I just reviewed Hurley's Web site, including listening to a seven-minute NPR interview -- serious for public\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technical Difficulties"","block_context":{"text":"Technical Difficulties","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/briefs\/technical-difficulties\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2949"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2967,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2949\/revisions\/2967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}