Love Letter to My Readers

Today marks the one-year anniversary of “Confessions of a Traveling Music Teacher.” On Tuesday, January 11, 2011, I wrote my first Blog, singing out an electronic “Funga Alafia” about to begin my Asian Orff travels in Korea. How I loved keeping a public journal while continuing through to Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Hong Kong. A brief stop back in San Francisco and then I was off to Salzburg. And then returning home in April, my travels done, lo and behold! the Blog continued. “It’s all travel” I thought to myself and so it is and so I continued. And here it is, one year and 200 Blog entries later.

So I’m breaking out the virtual champagne and raising my glass to you, my invisible community of readers. Most writers write out of compulsion, some inmost need to shape thoughts, record experience, get bothersome ideas out of their head to leave room for something else. On some level, a reader is a bonus. On another, the reader completes the cycle— it is not enough to write just for oneself and behind it all lies a hope that one’s words and experiences will resonate with someone else, touch someone else and just generally, as the Quakers say, “speak to their condition.” The most satisfying complement that I occasionally receive from a reader is “You’ve articulated what I’ve felt.”

The fact that I’ve grown to 46 “followers” (still not clear what this means— simply that the Blog has been bookmarked?) and that the stats tell me that the site has been opened 11, 369  times since my first entry means that someone out there is reading this. And to you all, I again raise my glass and say, “Thank you.”

Occasionally, people have used the Comment option (mostly my daughter!) and that’s fun to see which postings tickle folks’ fancies. And some have told me that they tried to comment and that it didn’t work. Many comments on a Blog could be fun, creating a more interactive community of readers. But it could also be too much time online and make me vulnerable to vicious attack!

So, dear reader, I have a humble request. On the occasion of this one-year anniversary, would you care to write a general comment to me and send it to Goodkindg@aol.com? It could be a mention of a few favorite Blogs or a few favorite topics or even suggestions for future topics. You might help me solve the technical Comment problem—have you tried to send one that didn’t work? You can explain to me what a Follower is. If I don’t already know you, you could introduce yourself. You could suggest prizes for people who pass these blogs on to friends (or enemies?). You could help me decide whether Blog should be capitalized or not.

Whether or not you choose to take time from your busy day to write, I thank you again for encouraging me to keep writing through the simple act of reading. Here’s to another year together!