Remembrance of Blogs Past

Since it's been a bit of a slow news week, I think I'll take a moment to comment on a topic close at heart. There are of course millions upon untold millions of blogs up and running on the web, most started by ordinary people like you and me with something (or even nothing) to say and a bit too much time on their hands. A tiny number of these blogs actually acquire some degree of prominence and readership; a single grain of sand on a beachful of blogs, as it were, actually becomes successful enough that the blogger can write full time and live off the ad revenues. As I said, however, we're talking really tiny numbers.
If you'll allow me to wax lyrical for a moment: Picture a night sky full of tiny, flickering stars. When one of those stars suddenly blinks out, who notices? Who misses its presence? And indeed, in the galaxy of blogs, this sort of thing happens all of the time. A blog starts, there's a flurry of creative energy devoted at the outset, and then, perhaps inevitably, the posts begin to flag. Weeks go by with nothing. A year later you check the url, and the blog is frozen in the past, a time capsule telling you what the creator thought about some obscure issue or life event that now exists as only a vague memory. Lord knows this has happened to me, twice now in fact, although perhaps in my defense I do seem to keep coming back.
I want to bring up one blog specifically, as an example of this phenomenon. This past fall, I was excited to see that an old friend from college had begun blogging. Vishal called his blog "Restless Ruminations", and I particularly enjoyed his focus on two disparate topics both of which I find fascinating but know very little about: India and Texas politics. Throw in a dash of legal commentary (he's a future law student), and the sort of center-left Bush bashing that is the bread and butter of this and many other blogs, and you had a blog that I think you'll agree was extremely diverting reading.
And then, after posting in early November on the midterm elections and Texas A & M President Robert Gates's appointment as Defense Secretary, Vishal mysteriously stopped. Nothing more was heard; the blog fell silent. And my own knowledge of India and Texas politics suffered an irreparable blow.
Vishal, if you ever by chance happen to read this, then heed these words. Forget law school. You have a gift, man. Resuscitate "Restless Ruminations" and get back to blogging.