We're Back!

Last week, I streamlined my web presence, uniting this blog with my personal website. Because of domain host migration, my webpage and blog redirected to a blank page--completely beyond my control. I took the time as a needed rest period, and contemplated how I've learned so much in the past five years about the web, writing content, and making a successful page/blog.

I started out with a Wordpress/Godaddy site in 2010, the first time I knew I needed a personal webpage about me. I resolved to be a whole person rather than keeping some aspects of my life private. But, Wordpress wasn't as intuitive to me as it was marketed to be, and so I stopped updated and maintaining.

Once I knew that I would need a webpage, I rehabilitated my site, discovering Godaddy's native website builder application, and bought mariaspicone.com. I decided against having a blog, thinking that I would build one later if I wanted one. I tried to keep my page updated enough that people wouldn't see a dead, defunct, static site that never changed. However, there were long periods of silence.

One of the most useful processes that helps me in keeping my page updated is whether I think more people will be coming to it--that is, when I submit applications for grants, residencies, and the like, or when I query for publication. But I still struggled with the idea that a web page is like a portrait without a changing expression. 

​On the other hand, blogging has always been a process of fits and starts. I created a volunteer blog for my 2014 Cambodia trip, intending to blog my experience. However, the internet in Cambodia was sketchy, and I was tired and sick enough that I never finished blogging during the trip, and was too embarrassed to continue afterwards. 

Likewise, I created a separate webpage and hub for my Uganda trip, Maria in Uganda, which since has morphed into this blog. (The earliest entries deal with Uganda). I did intend to talk about my experience while in country and afterwards. Again, the internet was unreliable, and I wrote copious longhand notes about my experiences, which I still want to present to you. However, some parts of the Uganda trip required an honesty that I felt I couldn't share without alienating my fellow YPs, our YP coordinator, and our wonderful trip leader. But I felt I needed this space to start writing on a consistent basis, so I don't regret what it's become.

I've written blog posts as a freelancer and as a volunteer for other organizations, so it's not that I'm incapable of producing content or a more 'focused' experience. But in this day of hashtags, categories, and the like, what I really want to have is a space to be honest with you. I don't care about people who will read this 'only' because I am one thing or another, and those people can certainly filter out whatever they want. So for now, this blog will continue being about the whole person.

​I'll keep doing it until I do it right.