A friend of mine recently noted that there is no "narrative thread" to my postings on my web log. She is correct. Everything I've posted thus far has been rather random and out of context. Why is that? Two reasons.

The first reason is, quite simply, that I haven't been posting much at all. If I don't post on a regular basis, it's hard to start establishing any on-going context or threads of interest.

The second reason is one of purpose. Who am I writing to/for? Why am I posting to this site at all? Without any answer to these questions, each missive is a random pellet that is scatter shot from a 12-gauge that is aimed at the empty sky.

(Metaphors are so much better than similes, aren't they?)

Without a sense of the audience, I find myself censoring my postings quite a bit. If I'm not posting to anyone in particular, I end up worrying about any number of people in general reading or misreading what I post. What if someone at work finds out that I don't like my job? What if someone I respect learns I did something uncool? What if my former students discover I'm just an ordinary guy? (Actually, they've probably already figured that out.) What if my grandparents find out I swear like a sailor?

Alas, I'm discovering that there's a worse scenario: What if I had a chance to speak, but I didn't for fear of offending?

I can't even believe I just said that. Me? Afraid to offend? If my friends from college could only see me now.

Well, when I worked in radio, I never really knew who my audience was, either. At least, not at first. Eventually, they'd start revealing themselves through calls to the station, or comments from out-of-the-blue at the checkout line, or even irate letters to the editor. And, eventually, I found my voice.

But, even though I didn't know the audience at first, I at least knew my purpose -- be it to read the news, play some rock and roll, or host a comedy show. So what's my purpose here?

To tell you stuff I wouldn't normally get a chance to tell you. That's all.

So, stay tuned. You might like what you have to hear. Then again....