For the first time in years, I clicked the "VIEW NEXT BLOG" button on the top of this page. I was engrossed. For two hours. Work not getting done. But couldn't look away.

What did I learn?

Number one, we are all not so very different! Life struggles, life joys, all fighting our own self-consciousness about presenting ourselves "publicly." Trying to tell our story. It's like having to package yourself, (and it's surprising how good most people are at it).

But pretty much people just want to talk about their kids, their happy, happy marriage (guilty), their wider family and friends, their loneliness, and their need to be "creative." And God. Actually, not much on God, except for lots of divine name-dropping (at least on the blogs I read--but most often handled in a sincere-seeming, comfortable way).

Number two, absent nearly all pages were political screeds or hate of much intensity. Thank God.

Number three, there are a lot of Mormons on Blogger. I report this based only on their own claimed/advertised religious affiliation. They didn't have to say they were Mormon. We're talking WELL more than half of 50 random blogs I checked out (has Blogger tagged me with a Mormon-preference logarithm?). Somewhere the angel Moroni is smiling.

And finally, number four, (and trailing the Mormon population closely), there are a lot of mediocre-to-bad-to-sinister-bad art blogs out there.

Seeing these, BPB felt diminished.

How apropos this should happen after yesterday's confession that I really like to post--and really like to see my own posts. Art superstar (seriously) Chloe Cummings had very kind words for this blog yesterday (and I do truly appreciate them), but you look at enough plodding pictures and you lose the ability to see anything but the worst in your own work.

Here's to my worst.

Sometimes a mackerel is just a mackerel.

--Ernest Hemingway