On painting in corners.. some incoherent ramblings..

Mitch Berg has a great post In it, he responds to a piece written by Kevin at The Insomnia Report. The piece basically states, among some other things, that bloggers often carve out a personna and paint themselves into a corner or "dig themselves into a hole" which they find it difficult to climb out of... in effect, "typecasting" themselves. Mitch states:

The short answer: Absolutely not.

The long answer: Go back to February, 2002, and start reading. Read all 6,000-odd posts. There are some streaks in there; streaks of writer's block, others where I was casting about for new ideas, others where the material poured out with no effort. I'm a single parent - there are mornings where I don't feel like writing. I've been doing it a while, so there are subjects that bore me; I could quit fisking Nick Coleman any time now. I work a fairly demanding day job - there are days when between parenting and work, I don't have time to dig into a story, or write with the care and detail that I'd like to. That's life; my goal, failing all of the above (and I do, often!) is to write something I enjoy every day.

I agree with Mitch. At the risk of sounding egotistical I write about what I want to write about, in whatever style suits my mood de jour. I guess I don't feel "boxed in" by any one personna or style. My politics are pretty clear, and I would never stray from the politics I portray on this blog; number one, because my politics reflect my passions; and number two, because they are based on core principles that I hold dear. At times, I'm flighty; at other times I'm dead serious; There are times when I am quite erudite, where the words come out as easily as water comes off of a duck's back, and other times when I feel like I couldn't come up a word if Vanna gave me a vowel.

Sometimes I can be downright nasty to those whom I perceive as my political enemies. I make no apologies for that, as I feel that they are in the process of destroying this nation and nullifying the sacrifices made by those before us and by those who continue to make those sacrifices. If our brave soldiers are willing to get down and dirty and risk life and limb for our nation, the least I can do is to idealogically fight tooth and nail those who would attempt to defeat their mission on the homefront or to otherwise destroy their morale.

I guess the long and the short of it is that I write my passions, and about things I enjoy, and I don't for one minute feel "boxed in" as to a particular genre or style. My writing is myself,my personality, in all its different facets, in all its strengths and weaknesses. Now I'm not a traffic magnet like Mitch; I don't have the incredible abilities to amass a whole mess of sources into a coherent whole as does my friend Jeff; nor do I have the sophistication of wit and consistent clarity of thought as do Doug or John or Uncle Ben; each blogger I have come to know and respect brings something different to the table, and adds to the great mix that is the MOB.

All I have to offer is myself; my passions, joys, and sorrows.. And I am truly astounded by, and truly grateful to each and every person that takes a little bit of precious time out of a busy day to stop by and read my screeds.