Home | Away

It was twenty years ago today

Can it really be true?  Twenty years since my first posting to this humble blog?  My goodness, it seems like only twelve months ago that I started infesting the Internets with this me.com stuff.  Way back in January 2004, I was still working with a 56K dialup (true!) and a tiny homemade computer made of balsam wood, soup cans, and string (not exactly true!).  But I rechecked the records, and sure enough, the very first entry on this blog is twenty years old today.  Well, well, the tempuses they are a-fugittin’.

But someone should still vote for me in the Koufax “best new blog” category, all the same, whenever it appears.  I’m getting wiped out in the “humor” (I voted for Fafblog) and “best writing” (I voted for James Wolcott) voting, thanks to the sheer profusion of witty, well-crafted lefty blogs out there.  Many of which, shame to say, I had not heard of before now-- which reminds me why these little in-house (as opposed, say, to WaPo) competitions are a Good Thing.  So stop by Wampum and leave ‘em a few bucks in the tip jar, if you can.  Thanks--

Posted by on 01/08 at 02:33 PM

  1. I forget: Did you first comment on Boondocks or did it comment on you?

    Posted by Arthur D. Hlavaty  on  01/08  at  04:36 PM

  2. I believe I first read you on my brother-in-law’s Commodore 64.

    Posted by Riggsveda  on  01/08  at  05:08 PM

  3. Michael:

    I myself voted for you for humor. Unfortunately, Wamum has been flaming me the past few days, so YAAY MICHAEL, everyone go vote for Michael, but don’t read the part about how I’m a bitch goddess because I slighted MB.

    Posted by Kathryn Cramer  on  01/08  at  08:48 PM

  4. ..,MB standing for Mary Beth rather than our host.

    Posted by Kathryn Cramer  on  01/08  at  08:51 PM

  5. You’re mischaracterizing both her tone and her actions.  She didn’t call names.  She did object to having your comments banned from your blog and being referred to as a troll b/c her tone was too emotional: I don’t think any of what she did qualifies as trolling or flaming.  Angry, yes; flaming, no.

    Posted by  on  01/08  at  09:17 PM

  6. I voted for you in the most humorous blog category too, Dr. Berube, but I doubt that we’ll have much luck there.

    I’m judging generally by the list of blogs I’ve seen nominated for various categories --some of the nominees for Best Writing, for instance, truly cracked me up-- of course, and the fact that your prose is possibly too intellectually heavy and sardonic for most people to enjoy as much as some of us do.

    Keep up the fabulous work and take care of yourself.

    Posted by Real Genius  on  01/08  at  09:33 PM

  7. You know, Real G, back in September some people pulled me aside and said, “Michael, the Borges stuff and the Nabokovian mirrors-within-mirrors are all very well and good for you postmodern literary types, but it’s gonna cost you when the Koufaxes roll around.” I didn’t listen to these people at the time, partly because I thought the Koufax Awards were called the Kafka Awards, and I figured I had ‘em locked up.  Well, that’s a mistake I won’t make again.

    Besides, even I didn’t vote for me.  Thanks, though, to all of you who did (including those of you who stopped by in this comments section).  And however one might characterize the tone and content of the exchange between Kathryn and Mary Beth, I’m glad that I spent an hour reading it.  Since I have such a powerful aversion to aversives when it comes to kids with intellectual disabilities, it was instructive for me to read an impassioned defense of ABA with regard to autism.

    Posted by Michael  on  01/08  at  11:11 PM

  8. Michal—you CAN compete for the JANET HEIDINGER KAFKA PRIZE, given by the Univ. of Rochester, but you’d have to write chick lit (or write AS a woman, not LIKE). Now, if it were the HEIDEGGER KAFKA prize, maybe it would have more appeal.

    Posted by  on  01/08  at  11:26 PM

  9. Michael, one thing I never made clear, namely because it’s never even been an issue for us, is that our children have never been subjected to aversives in their ABA treatment.  They’ve also never had food used as a “reward”, despite that being included in the general mythology surrounding ABA.  Our kids get hugs and verbal affirmation, that’s all.  And for that, they’ve learned to talk, play, laugh, eat and sleep.  Our kids are still very affected by their disabilities, but the changes are profound.  And there is joy again in our home, something I will fight tooth and nail to retain.

    I’m sorry Kathryn continues to dwell on this, and I apologize for it spilling over into your comments.  I actually put it behind me days ago, when I realized it diverted my energy from productive uses.  I haven’t spoken anywhere about Kathryn since, and certainly haven’t been flaming her.

    Posted by MB  on  01/09  at  12:02 AM

  10. Glad you haven’t mentioned Jorge much, as far as memory serves. Physics forbid, the wingnuts would’ve called you a Nazi for mentioning someone so fascinated with the German language.

    Your posts about the difference between Europe and the States have been among my favorites of all time, by the way.

    And had you not decided to turn off these comments a couple of posts back? Or did I miss something?

    Posted by Real Genius  on  01/09  at  12:14 AM

  11. Real G, I turned off the comments for two days only so that we could suspend all blog activity while we migrated to our spacious new home.  It wasn’t anything personal, honest!  And thanks for reading my post-European Vacation posts.  I could have done much more with ‘em, though-- I’d originally wanted to do an entire thing devoted just to the warnings on packages of French cigarettes, ranging from the delicate ("fumer provoque un viellissement de la peau,” for those concerned primarily with their young-looking skin) to the brutal ("fumer tue,” for those concerned primarily with staying alive).  But I lost the desire for some reason. . . .

    And simetrias, thanks for taking me back to the heady days when literary critics devoted entire “special issues” to the question of writing like or as a woman.  Better than a Flock of Seagulls reunion!  But I’ll pass on the Kafka, enticing though it is.

    And Mary Beth-- I didn’t mean to suggest for a moment that you were using aversives with your kids.  I only wanted to say that I learned from reading your post on debates about autism.  Down syndrome is in many ways a completely different question than autism, and there simply isn’t as much of a debate about cures or remediation.  Anyway, my very best wishes to you and your family, and to Kathryn’s too.  May this be a happy new year for all of you.

    Posted by Michael  on  01/09  at  01:19 AM

  12. It’s unfortunate that we can’t fake the date of our comments to go with that original post.  But I’ll try anyway.

    Posted by Jonathan  on  01/09  at  11:21 AM

  13. Alright, it was half-hearted, but there should be some bad poetry or something up there besides the warez comment to better simulate the online world of 1985.

    Posted by Jonathan  on  01/09  at  11:23 AM

  14. No, it was good.  And the year of the comment isn’t recorded at all . . . er, I mean, thanks for writing to me in 1985!  Let’s try to meet in another ten years or so and form a band!

    Posted by Michael  on  01/09  at  11:24 AM

  15. Can somebody please tell me what is so funny about Fafblog?

    I honestly don’t get it…

    Posted by Ryan  on  01/09  at  06:45 PM

  16. Fafblog is frequently pure genius contemporary commentary disguised as mythic fables from the universe of the Medium Lobster, also with occasional forays into what a real pie is (not Boston Cream pie I think).

    On the other had, intelligent sardonic blogs such as http://www.michaelberube.com are merely intellectual blogs where big words are used and big laughs are elicited from big bellied buddha-like mamas (oops, revealing self-protrait).  The big words make it hard to understand by people who frequent the Medium Lobster universe.  This universe has sometimes been mistaken for reality by people like our Great Leader, George W. Bush the 43rd, anointed by God and isolated by flunky from the real world.

    I meant to comment on your 20th anniversary.  Sorry.  I think I discovered BBs about 20 years ago, and my nephew, the first geek in Modesto, was already calling me a backward troglodyte.  So congrats on your 20th anniversary.  Did you invent the internet?

    Posted by Carol  on  01/09  at  10:14 PM

  17. Sorry… I always thought that Lewis Caroll was pure genius.

    Perhaps your nephew from Modesto should move out.  I’ve heard that it is the next terrorist “hot spot.”

    I’m still trying to figure out what is funny about disguising real life comical geniuses as fa-bush or freepin-rumsfeld.  I think they do quite a good job on their own.

    Posted by Ryan  on  01/09  at  10:38 PM

  18. Carol, I have to admit that I did not invent the Internet, but when it came along, I had the good sense to sell my house and put all the money into “gopher.” I just knew that sucker was going to be huge!

    Posted by Michael  on  01/10  at  12:52 AM

  19. I think you meant balsa wood.

    Posted by  on  01/10  at  07:45 AM

  20. Well, that just shows you how capable I am when it comes to crafts and models and things-- all these years, I thought it was balsam wood.  Thanks, Pedant.

    Posted by Michael  on  01/10  at  08:45 AM

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:


Next entry: Tucker Carlson disemboweled by CNN

Previous entry: And we're back

<< Back to main