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The History of the Village
Posted by dianed101 on October 15, 2009
Welcome to Village blue.
I decided today to write the history and the provenance of this site.
First let me tell you a bit about myself. I have always felt myself to be a writer, started in early childhood and really blossomed in my 40’s , (I am 66) and actually spent 10 years of my life writing full time and over time, in fact all the time. I wrote about 5 books, 100’s of pages of poetry and many and various other types of writing, including plays, and short stories.
I never tried to publish anything, although I always wanted to have something published. Be that as it may, in 97′ our house burned down and I lost most of my writings, except for one box that had been stored in another place. This is when I stopped writing. I had been going at it for years, had amassed a great volume of work and pffft it was all gone. Of course that was before I got a computer and years before I was even able to publish on the internet. But at that time I thought, what is the point if it could all be lost in minutes.
Fast forward to 2003, 2004, when under George Bush this country was going to hell in that old handbasket, and I started to go to political websites and eventually got very involved in two sites, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos, the giant of all blogs. During that time I wrote countless articles for posting and thousands of comments. Halaluya I was back into the writing game again and how.
Those years were great fun, we were all fired up, writing like crazy, sharing our points of view and sometimes there were fights. The fights amongst the foks at those site could go on for days and weeks and sometimes months and they left most of us mentally if not physically drained. At one point after a pretty intense discussion with another blogger I said I have to get away from this and start a site where we can talk about anything but politics, a place where we can cleanse our souls. There are other things in life said I to myself and I have to have a place to spend my time where I can be restored and refilled.
Thus the first Villageblue was born….I subtitled it, ” A Magical Place”, and indeed it was…folks who came to that site felt it when the site would come on the screen. I know that because many told me so. It truly was a great site and many many wonderful stories were posted and shared and there was a good deal of commenting as we had a fairly large membership.
The site was a paid hosted site and after about 3 years I could not justify the expense so I decided to shut it down, It hurt to do so, but it was a great run with over 250,000 visitors in that 3 years.
So for about a year or so, I had no site of my own. Then a day came when I had something to say and no place to put it and I thought I just have to have another site, but this time I have to go for a free site which is why I chose word press.
Thus Village blue two was born.
The folks who are on and came to this site I met on either the political sites or the previous Village and a better group of writers, thinkers and friends I have never seen.
Now to the purpose or mission of the site. Well this is where the other authors on this site come in. I want you all to write your own journey to get here and what you think the purpose or mission of this site is. I am eventually going to post this whole essay on the ‘about’ page of the site.
Then next I am going to do a “tell us about you” posting, where I will ask you write your personal stories and I am going to link that to front page as well.
I look forward to your comments, actually I can’t wait as I know I will love it all. LOL.
That’s all folks!!!!!! Love You all.
My Village Blue 2 
shirlstars said
I met Diane on Daily Kos political blog-site and was lured by her to be a regular at the then newly minted Booman Tribune blog.
We became fast friends and after private e-mails, internet live chats, and numerous phone calls it was obvious we had a joint purpose in meeting each other and sharing the many aspects of ourselves beyond the political interests that we shared.
A few months later she began talking about starting a blog where those who wished could meet and discuss the other parts of our lives and experiences beyond the political. It was a huge job setting up a blog and a very determined and persistent Diane brought it all together in a couple of weeks. She had asked for my help. . .heh. . .which I had not a lot to offer other than to support her actions and ideas as she shared them with me. So I offered what I am best at, encouragement and a willingness to listen to her ideas and “argue” about some of them with her. I put argue in quotes because they weren’t really arguments they were discussions about some points that I disagreed with her on or held a different view. Sometimes heated discussions. But always they ended in laughter and sometimes just an agreement to disagree on a particular view.
It was such a blessing for me, the writer who had a lot more to talk about than just politics to find a place to express all those other interests. We felt there were many others who were of a like mind. We just knew it would be great fun to get to know some of these “anonymous” contributors with the strange user names better.
So the purpose of the Village Blue blog as I envisioned it was to offer a space for people to write and discuss all the many things they found of interest beyond the politics of the time. A place to actually get to know people and make new friends.
It turned out to be a wonderful place that brought us many new friends and the great enjoyment of getting to know them better in all the aspects of who they are. In fact it was so successful that a group of 8 or 10 of us from many diverse places had a get together meet up in San Diego, Ca in 2006. It was a fabulous event that none of us will ever forget.
So the multi-faceted purpose in my view was to create a place of free expression on many topics and to allow those of us who wished to, to become less anonymous and more the real persons and personalities that we are. I think it has been a tremendous success in those goals.
I also think that VB2 has not yet begun to fulfill its purpose and potentials although we have seen a wonderful and transformational transition of our mainstay writer, Whisel* into an ever amazingly versatile and exceptional writer of the first magnitude.
All things considered and in spite of my own lack of written participation over recent times, I think there is much more to come forth here at VB2. So let’s get on with it!
Here we go!
Hugs to all
Shirl
dianed101 said
Thanks Shirl, that was great of course,….you know we met on Booman site, but you didn’t want to stay and I had to drag you there to post. It was your adopted daughter series.
glad to hear that you want to get on with it on this site….here are the stats, you wrote 13 entries, Whisel wrote 140 and I wrote 11, 12 counting today….lol, what a record we have.
shirlstars said
Hahaha. . .and giggles
I knew you would correct me. And as I have said so many times before. . .you are always right. . .except. . . .
It is as you say.
Shirl
And wow have we ever been slackers! I think it is time to change that and give a boost up to Whisel*. . .she might enjoy a bit of a vacation once in a while.
And what about the rest of you out there reading these words? We are interested in hearing what you wish to talk about as well.
whisel said
Amazing….
I think that getting one’s feather ruffled from time to time brings out the writer in us 🙂 And that’s a good thing.
I joined the original Village Blue back in the day. Previously, I had been posting to Message Boards and Forums. Blogging was a new expression for me. Now on VB2 I am committed to posting as often as possible. Even though I’m not able to formulate an entry on a daily basis, I choose to post entries as a writing discipline and a means of personal expression.
By nature, I am an introvert. As a matter of developing and becoming, I put my words out there, not as personal disclosure, but as a mean of exploring my world through the craft of creative writing. <—– I certainly can dance those sentences around, eh? lol
Now that I am 90% homebound by condition, I have to really dig deep and polish well each kernal of experience or thought. Sometimes I think: "What!?! Are you writing about those cats again?" haha…
I live my life with the most positive attitude possible. That includes: humor, inspiration, meditation and the belief that all is well on my path, in my journey. I choose to understand life as a vehicle for the soul. And even all the difficult and painful events enlarge the schematic of where and how I wander. I choose to share the simple scenes in my life because they are my foundation, my easy wins, as it were. And this is the place where I can be, safe in the understanding that everything matters and we are all good people.
And that's how it is for me. A little detail here. A little detail there. And it all adds up to the Life and Times of Whisel*. I am so happy that all of you have posted due to a provocative moment. 😉 Ya never know when these "gifts" will arise.
Best wishes, Whisel*
shirlstars said
And maybe, Diane, we were “facebook” before there was a facebook and with a much larger venue as in all the space you could want to express yourself on any topic of interest.
Just a thought
Shirl
vintagescribe said
Hi all..:)
When I discovered the blogworld many years ago, I dived in head first! OMG, FINALLY! A place to actually PUT some of what I write, where real people can read it! I fell in love with Daily Kos first. It was such a marvel to actually feel like part of a community, even if it was on the internet. Then came the pie wars, and to my shock and dismay, I watched sexist history repeat itself, only among progressives now, and along with other “womens studies types”, I was invited to leave, and so I did. That was a hard wake up call.
I followed others over to what appeared to be more enlightened pond at Boomans. It took a while for me to trust that I wouldn’t run into the same misogynistic crap there, but in time, I settled in and did some of my best on writing there among so many others I had come to know and love online…again, feeling part of genuine “community” on line. Until the time arrived when I pissed off that blog owner TOO, by daring to tell one more emperor that he was were not wearing any clothes. That’s when I gave up finding a sense of genuine “community” on “community blogs” run by emperors. I simply couldn’t manage to maintain a consistent level of deference.
It was there that I came to know Shirl and Diane, so in time, I ended up at the First Village Blue, which was quite a refreshing change. Now, here I am in version two, and altho I have not been writing much at all online anymore, I have much enjoyed it here. I love Whisels writings a LOT. They refresh me. Make me think. And always make me smile.
I’ve returned to Kos now, mostly as a reader of diarists I enjoy, and a verify occasional commenter. Recently, I have spent more time at Black Kos which publishes twice a week. I’ve found a much warmer and more welcoming atmosphere there and am learning from those excellent diaries.
I’m not clear myself when or why I seem to have lost the urge to write much online anymore. Some days it feels like I’ve simply said all I have to say. Other days, I am so humbled by the growing awareness that the more I think I know and understand, the more I find out how little I really know or understand! Still other days, it just seems like there are already way too many words set loose in this world, and there’s not nearly enough silence.
Overall, it feels like every so gradually I’ve become more of an observer and less a participant in the world, both online and offline. Doesn’t feel like anything I’ve decided, just some natural transition I find rather interesting to observe..without much of a need to know what..if anything..it “means”. Whatever stage or phase this is, is a new one to me!.
I might try dropping in more often however, if only to share some of the odd trips my mind takes these days, as I sit here staring out at the huge expanse of sky I see through this big fifth floor window!
dianed101 said
I do hope you show up often in this place and share your stories with us.
shirlstars said
Scribe, you know it would be near impossible to find anyone who enjoys and admires your writing more than I do. I would love to see anything, old, new, finished, unfinished that you might have in your writings.
I so know what you mean about just feeling like you don’t have anything to say. It has certainly been so for me for quite a while now. Seems like anything I would say is pretty much a re-run of what I have already said or someone else has said even better.
But. . .maybe Diane can do her “mind-meld” thing and send you messages about topics like she does me. . .
Perhaps there is a new time of having words to say opening up, We shall see.
Big hugs
Shirl
dianed101 said
“Perhaps there is a new time of having words to say opening up, We shall see.”
I think you might be right Shirl, it does seem so.
dianed101 said
Ok here goes the mind meld Shirl suggested, Scribe if nothing else how about copying and pasting some of your work from Booman Trib, should they still exist. Those stories were great and bear repeating.
vintagescribe said
Funny, I was just over there the other day, after someone linked back to one of them. I am quite amazed that it’s all still there, and that I’d forgotten all about having written most of them: seems like all that was in another lifetime! I’ll pick through them one of these days, and see if there’s any that might want to migrate over here..
dianed101 said
Scribe, how about the old saw mill one, I still remember that a little. I actually looked too the other day but was your screen name scribe or what.
vintagescribe said
Found it, read it again..and it just doesn’t feel like it belongs here at the Village, Di. It’s just too raw a slice of life. And maybe too, I’ve just moved on from the need to “close old circles”. Those pieces were mostly my way of thanking some of my long ago “angels.” 🙂 Thanks, though, for remembering them.