I’m in the process of cleaning up *everything* today—from half-finished projects to various tasks too long the victim of a very unwieldy earnings season. Man, was it busy.

Yes, even my overflowing inbox of messages, all awaiting some kind of action by me, is being addressed(even if I’m late getting back to everyone, no email falls victim to the delete button!).

As part of the cleanup, I am getting together a bunch of unfinished blog posts (reviews, etc), but the one I did want to set

Lately I’ve been thinking about blogging and blogging in the poetry world. Should the blog should be a very strategic activity which is designed to draw a specific audience and build the reputation of the press and its authors.

Or should it be about your passions and naturally stray from the specific field in which you practice? Eileen Tabios’ blog is probably the best exemplar of the latter. She’s got a great blog and a network of friends and colleagues that has grown up around it—as well as the authors she has found as a result.

What makes the most sense to me is the idea that blogs enable connections. Regardless of whether a blog is connected to a press or not, people recount the connections they’ve made with people they would not otherwise have met. Blogs help establish colleagues, expertise, and reputation: they help us connect to people. I kept thinking back to the model of community-as-neighborhood, where people interact out on the street and have a regular home from which they base their operations: the virtual front porch. This satisfies a deep need for many people.

So, now that spring has sprung, it’s time to refocus our energies, reconnect, and renew the energy that drives Ahadada forward.

Lots more from both Jesse and I in the near future!