Do I Owe You An Apology?

When I first started this blog, I was blogging pretty regularly -- at least once a week, if not twice.  About half of my posts were on veganism or diet and the other half were a combination of news or parenting experiences.  Then my kids let me know that they did NOT want to be visible on my blog, so I lost about 25% of my material.

I know this is a common experience among Mommy bloggers, particularly for those whose kids are old enough to know what a blog is and to have a nascent awareness of public and private.  I have to respect that.  My kids don't want strangers commenting to me about their lives on the Internet, no matter how entertaining (or mundane) the stories may be.  (There are exceptions; the recent blog about my daughter's Battle of the Books competition was approved by her.  In fact, she wanted me to write that one.)

I've also found myself kinda bored with veganism, so I feel I've "lost" another source of topics.  I'm currently thinking most about news of various sorts and have lately been paralyzed by world news (Japan, Syria, Libya, Egypt...and Wisconsin and the generally sad state of the US economy).

I really do mean paralyzed -- I don't know where to start a post about any of it.  Japan's situation breaks my heart and worries the hell out of me (nuclear power, IMHO, needs to go).  The human rights abuses the world over sicken me.  The level of hatred people have for each other stuns (but, sadly, does not surprise) me.  Dictators need to go, yes, but I also worry about the uncertainty of who will replace them.  The continuing downward spiral of our own economy and the suffering that goes with it....

Of late, I've probably been the most consumed with various stories of abuse toward women:  Lara Logan, Lynsey Addario, Eman al-Obeidy, women in our military, and the 11-year-old Texas girl.  I've been enraged at thoughts of their personal suffering and also keenly aware of the sociological pattern they're a part of.

I actually have been writing; I just haven't published any of it here.  I'm working on a very long, detailed sociological analysis of the Lara Logan case, relating it to other well-known cases often covered in sociological textbooks.  Some of you might find it interesting, but it is definitely more academic than "bloggish," and has a ton of footnotes and cites.

I'm not sure it's appropriate for a blog.  Let me know if you think I should reconsider that and "entertain" you with a lengthy sociological discussion of bystanders, mobs, and reference groups, of how particular cases are sadly anything but unique. I warn you though -- it's a long piece (20 pages and not at all done).

For those of you who follow this blog because you are particularly interested in veganism, I worry I've let you down.  You should know I'm still at it and that I will still write about it from time to time, but I don't currently feel that I have something to add beyond what I've already said, and certainly not beyond what other (arguably more committed) vegans have said and continue to say.  In a nutshell, I believe a vegan diet is a healthy one, that avoiding animal products in other areas of life (e.g., clothing, sports equipment, makeup,  furniture) is an ethical choice, and that avoiding animal use in general, if done by enough people, has HUGE environmental (and animal) benefits.

So, veganism is a good thing to do, even if you sometimes fall off the proverbial wagon and have to haul yourself back on.

I'm in that category, in case the title of the blog never clued you into that.  My biggest downfall continues to be...cheese.  How unusual.

If I've disappointed some of you by not writing about veganism as much as I had originally intended, I apologize.  Hope you'll still stick around.