So the big question on readers' minds lately has been what's going on? Why can't we pull together an edition?
I don't know. It's multiples. The pandemic has left a lot of people depressed. That's one reason.
Another, we're tired. It's been how many years now? (17 in January.)
Ava and C.I.
That probably will surprise some and some are already composing their e-mails, "Do you realize how, with the book coverage, Ava and C.I. are now doing even more than usual?" I do realize that. But they're doing that to try to complete an edition. They really aren't taking part in other features. They're tired. They'll go off and spend a few hours writing their TV piece and come back and be like, "What have you got?" And often, we won't have any completed feature. At which point, they're likely to say, "We put in our time." And they did. But, often, they're the ones who, in the past, could help save a piece. They'd either broker some compromise that let us resolve a stumbling block or they'd find a turn of phrase to use or a section of what we had written to emphasize.
I also get C.I.'s whole "I don't do greatest hits." She's said that for some time, since the start, in fact. And now that we have a body of work behind us, I get how easy it is to just do the same thing but also how empty. I get the "I don't do greatest hits." I don't know what to do there. I don't know what excitement could be generated by a new beat to cover or whatever. That's just me getting old, I'm sure. 16 years ago, I was a college student.
16 years and counting. I really can't believe that it's been that long. And I really can't believe that the Iraq War is still going on.
We protested the Iraq War as students and back then all the online world was about ending the Iraq War. They were all pretending. Remember Iddy Bud, for example? One of many fake asses. But the Iraq War was the main reason we started this site. And it still continues, it still drags on. I really don't get that.
If nothing else, the site has taught me persistence and that instant gratification doesn't really take place in a battle with empire.
