Them Changes

Back in February of 2012, I started a blog called Proof I Never Want To Be President (Of Anything). The name of the blog was a joke about the way the press covers politics. If a politician ever misspeaks, it is a “gaffe” and the press goes on and on about it. And, even worse, if a politician ever changes her mind, she is a “flip-flopper.” I misspeak and change my mind frequently. Not that I would, but if I ever decided to run for office, the press would have a field day with my blog.

This is how I described the blog on the site’s “About” page:

This is just a collection of thoughts I have on various topics. Writing them helps me work through them. I understand that they are of no interest to anyone except me, but since I’m writing them down, I might as well share. Please feel free to make comments. They might help me improve my thinking.

I had no expectations at all. I’ve always liked writing and WordPress provided a free space for me to do so. To my surprise, some people actually read my posts and left comments. Over the next few years, it became an enjoyable hobby.

Fast forward to 2016, and my BFF, Jamil, and I had years of long, rambling conversations under our belts. We talked about everything from international politics, to the search for extraterrestrial life, to Star Trek, to junk food. We always enjoyed our conversations. They were (and still are) a good balance of honesty, openness, earnest (but not too serious), and silly. But, what struck us, was that other people seemed to enjoy them too. We would often include anyone who happened to be around. Sometimes they were friends, sometimes acquaintances, and sometimes strangers. One friend joked, “There’s Gene and Jamil solving the world’s problems again.”

Taking the old advice, “Write what you want to read,” and combining it with the fact that other people seemed to enjoy our conversations, we thought that we might be able to attract an audience. So, I stopped posting on Proof I Never Want To Be President and we started Nutmegger Daily. We didn’t really have expectations for the new blog. It would be fun to do, and if we happened to be successful, that would be great. Due to family, work, relationships, and life in general, we’ve been limited in how much time and effort we could put into it, but I think it has been reasonably successful for what it is.

When the pandemic hit, it upended everything. Jamil and I haven’t seen each other in person in over a year. But we’ve continued talking, both on the phone and online. The pandemic seems to have highlighted many of the persistent frustrations in our lives. As we talked, we realized that one way we could address some of those frustrations is to start taking Nutmegger Daily more seriously. It can give us a sense of control that has been sorely lacking, set a good example for our kids about work and following your dreams, and maybe even make us a little money. So, that’s what we’re doing. In the next few weeks, people will start seeing some changes to the site, how often we post, and our social media outlets. Our writing will still be the heart of it, but we want to get that writing in front of more readers.

One change that I’ve already made is I’ve incorporated all of my old posts from Proof I Never Want To Be President over here on Nutmegger. Some were certainly topical and won’t be of interest to anyone, but others are still relevant. As an example, I wrote about guns here, here, here, and here. With all the shootings over the past few weeks, they may be worth another look.

Hopefully this wasn’t too inside baseball for everyone. We’re just excited about the changes and want to get the word out. We’d really appreciate any follows, shares, comments, or likes you can spare. And, if you made it this far after being drawn in by the title, here is Buddy Miles playing the song. Plus, as a bonus, here are Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton playing it. I was at this concert the day Buddy Miles died. I don’t know if it had been in their repertoire before that, but it was great to hear that night. Thanks and enjoy.