Milestones

This is my 1,000th post on this blog, more or less. It's not the 1,000th published -- there are a couple drafts I've been tinkering with for ages that may someday see the light of day -- but it is the 1,000th post in the list of posts I've written since February 2008. No doubt if every draft had been completed the number would be higher, but quite a few drafts withered and died before reaching a point that justified hitting the Publish button.

I haven't been blogging much lately for multiple reasons: the hard drive on my computer developed Alzheimer's and had to be replaced, it's summer and I'd rather be outdoors most of the time even if it does require bathing in DEET to fend off the deer flies, and a lot of the stuff I'd like to whine about I can't because too many people I know personally are suddenly realizing I have a blog. The sense of freedom I felt after retiring from Large Nameless Agency the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- no more self-censorship! -- is gone. I now worry about saying the wrong thing about the museum or other volunteer experiences and inadvertently alienating potential allies. I've been networking like crazy this summer, trying really hard to move the historical society's membership numbers up and the mean age of its members down, and know that in a small town it's important not to tick anyone off. I've had tadpoles before. I've seen too many organizations go down in flames and good projects die hideous deaths because someone shot off his or her mouth at the wrong time.

In fact, about 25 years ago the historical society itself experienced what I tend to refer to as The Great Schism. Philosophical differences arose over the mission of the organization, harsh words were spoken, and, from what I can tell from the records, about half the membership walked out and never came back. Things might finally be to the point where it's possible to pretend it all never happened: all the key players in that particular drama are now safely dead.