More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
Today marks five years of The People’s Republic of Seabrook. I’m celebrating this, not because it’s a notable milestone of any sort, but because I find it difficult to believe that it’s been so long…and because of how far TPRS has come. When I look back on the origins of my passion/obsession, I’m amazed at what’s happened and how much help I’ve had along the way from people I will likely never meet. In particular, Brian Kane (without whom TPRS would still likely exist on the technological equivalent of stone tablets) in Boston and James Bow (the TPRS IT wizard who’s largely responsible for the fact that TPRS is still functional) in Toronto, have kept the ship afloat over the years. From such humble beginnings to such enforced mediocrity…it’s been a long, strange trip.
Not many will remember this, but when TPRS first emerged from the primordial ooze, it was hand-coded HTML all the way. I was a contract technical writer at Enron, and as my company’s contract wound down (and as Enron was collapsing around us), there was literally nothing for me to do. I had an office, a computer, and an Internet connection, and I need to at least LOOK busy, so I decided to teach myself HTML. Then, I read an article in USA Today about this new thing called “weblogs”…and I thought, “Hey, I can do that!” So, I did. The rest, as they say is history.
All along, TPRS has been largely for my own self-aggrandizement. I love to write, and I have some fairly strong Left-wing opinions. I’ve pissed more than a few folks off along the way, but this is my sandbox, which means I get to write about what interests me and what moves me. Sure, I wish that TPRS had the readership of sites like AMERICAblog, The Agonist, or Firedoglake, especially since TPRS has been around longer than any of them. Still, I can’t complain, because I’m still enjoying this. When that stops being the case, TPRS will go the way of the buffalo. I keep hoping that this will somehow turn into something I can actually make a living off of, but I can’t complain.
I owe a big debt of gratitude to all of my readers, some of whom keep coming back (y’all really need to get out more….). With all y’all, TPRS wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Now, everyone do their best Neil Young voice and repeat after me:
LET’S IMPEACH THE PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE….
