A New Beginning

I am going to be completely honest with you right from the start. I have no clue what I am doing. 

Really.

I have a basic idea of what I want to get accomplished with this blog, but I lack the experience and, let’s face it, the expertise to make it sexy. At least right now. Sooner or later it will look better. Sooner will include photos, later may involve holograms and 3D renditions of my home office or something. Who knows? I don’t.

Mind you, at this point I don’t even know who will be reading this. This entry is being written in a vacuum. Maybe it will remain there.

So, welcome to the grand experiment!

The funny thing is, this brand new blog began a couple of years ago.  I went to Europe to teach kids from Ontario grade twelve university-preparation English. I wrote weekly letters home with my reflections, my musings, about what I saw, what I experienced, and what I felt about Europe, teaching, and being away from home.

The next year I was encouraged to write these missives again. My list of recipients increased and I was told to repeat what I had done before. I did and people responded positively. I thought they were being polite but something strange happened.

When I finished up my series last summer some people kind of complained. You see, in my letters I included the shock of receiving the news of my brother’s terminal cancer and the death of Jack Layton. My letters often had a personal tone to them and people had connected. When the letters stopped the narrative remained.

People wanted to know what had become of my brother. They wanted to know how it felt to attend Jack Layton’s State Funeral. Many readers knew of other things I was experiencing and thought it would make for some good reflections. Everyday adventures we all experience and share, writing, directing and performing a play, and attending the NDP Leadership Convention in Toronto were some of the things brought up as subjects to write about.

I was flattered and honoured that people had connected to my writing. But more than this, I recognised that this could be an opportunity to grow as a writer while embracing new (to me) technology. This is a part of a larger commitment to writing more. I am not only on Facebook but have recently begun a Twitter account for the same purpose.  I also hope to capitalise on what I thought was another benefit of communicating my thoughts about travel. The letters I sent home to friends and families not only bore witness to my summers, they also grounded me during some hectic days. A blog could do the same if I chose to make it so.

So, I did. And here I am starting a blog. God help us all.

While I am blinded by my ignorance in the technology department, I have made some concrete decisions about this blog.

- It will retain the flavour of the original letters to which others have had such a strong connection.

- I will make entries on a regular basis. By regular I mean sometimes weekly, sometimes more, sometimes less. How’s that for articulation?

- Sometimes there will be pictures...hopefully...and sometimes there won’t.

- One day I will figure out how to link. That will be cool!

- No porn. I mean...really...I have to differentiate myself from most of the net somehow.

- I will not shy away from such controversial subjects as sex, politics, religion and Angela Lansbury.

There’s probably more but I think the list is long enough for today.

Next week this space will host some live blogging from Theatre Wakefield’s Piggyback Fringe Festival. At least I hope so. This is a great event bringing new talent on stage in an intimate setting. I have live-blogged this event every year since it started.

Soon after, I will once again be headed off to Europe with students. This year we will be spending July in London, Paris and Rome. This blog will trace this Grand Tour just like I did with the letters of years before.

In August I will be heading to Jamestown, NY with my friend Andrea to the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival. Eric will then pick me up and we will begin our two week road trip to New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville and all points in-between.

After all of that the travelling is over, but the journey continues.

The Daly Muse is about the everyday odyssey we all take in our lives. Our travels consist of years as well as miles, experiences as well as sights. It is my hope that as I reflect on what is my narrative, you will find yourself somewhere among the anecdotes and ideas.

Thank you for joining me.