Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of “About Last Night.” This was the first post, and this was the first almanac entry:
We must find out what we can about this place we’re living in–this place in time–but we’ve got to be awfully careful, it seems to me, never to make ourselves too perfectly a part of it. Modishness is the sure sign of the second-rate. We’re finally to be judged not by the degree of our involvement in the mainstream, but by our individual response to it.
Orson Welles said it, and I continue to believe it four years later. Most of our almanac entries are not intended as credos, but this one definitely qualifies.
Much has happened since 2003, both on this blog and elsewhere in the world, but the fact that “About Last Night” has been published continuously throughout that time–even during a week-long stretch when I thought I might be going out of business permanently–says something about the extent to which artblogging has become part of the landscape of American culture. To be sure, skeptics still abound, but I don’t know anybody who actually reads artblogs who doubts that they’re one of the best things to have happened to the arts in recent years. I’m very proud to be a part of the blogosphere.
To Our Girl in Chicago, my friend and co-blogger, and Carrie Frye, our friend and guest blogger–as well as the many artbloggers whom I’ve met and befriended since 2003–I offer heartfelt thanks for helping to create an online world where the arts are taken seriously. And to all of you who read “About Last Night,” thanks for sticking around. In case you’re wondering, we’re still having fun.
See you Monday!