Twenty-five years ago today, I started blogging.

In December 2000, I read a New York Times article about blogs. A couple of weeks later I came across Rebecca Mead’s famous New Yorker article, You’ve Got Blog, where I learned about Jason Kottke and some other prominent bloggers. I decided to give blogging a shot – I’d always enjoyed writing, and it seemed like a fun group of people. I was at a point in my life where I didn’t know very many people. I was a single twentysomething gay guy living in NYC (well, Jersey City) and wanted to establish a social life. I came across some blogs by other gay men, and I wanted to be part of that community.

So I started a blog, and it changed my life.

Most importantly, blogging helped me meet Matt. Technically we connected through a mutual friend on Friendster (RIP Friendster!) but we already knew of each other’s blogs, and our mutual friend was also a blogger. In fact, I made several good friends through blogging – people who are still dear friends today. Even my name on Bluesky (and on previous social media sites) comes from this blog.

Sometimes I miss the blogging era. For a while in the early-to-mid-2000s there was a vibrant gay blogging world. There were meetups of gay bloggers in NYC and elsewhere. That community had some characters.

I rarely blog anymore; my last post was two and a half years ago. Everything moved to social media long ago, where people just write in very short bursts. But blogging actually encouraged you to write: to have thoughts, and to express those thoughts in paragraphs, not just in a couple of sentences. Sometimes you don’t know what you think until you write about it. Blogging could encourage you to think.

At any rate, my site is still here. In fact, I just moved it to a new hosting service last spring. Even if I barely blog any more, this place isn’t going anywhere. It’s still here when I need it. It’s my own site (powered by WordPress!) and not dependent on the social media fad of the moment.

In the meantime, you know where to find me!