My Own Department Store Window

When I was a kid, I had an odd sort of dream. I wanted to live in the storefront window of a department store like Daytons or Donaldson's (venerable, though now long-gone Minneapolis/St. Paul stores). I thought it would be great for people walking along the street to pause for a moment and see what I was up to, how I lived--I could be a mirror, of sorts, for people to see how they themselves lived. And I thought it would be fascinating to live such an experimental and compartmentalized life.

Frankly, this was a pretty amazing idea coming from a rather shy kid, and over the years I've continued to play with the duality of exhibitionism attempting to trump an introverted nature (and sometimes having to reestablish some control over those exhibitionist tendencies--especially after meeting my fantastic wife, Mrs. F, who is a very private person and does all she can to keep me from placing her in that window with me).

This last week, I noticed that I and my blogging partner (and mother-in-law), Old Fogey, have smashed through the 1000-post barrier for this blog (we're actually getting quite close to 1100). This week also brought this blog's first 200-visitor day (in fact, we had three). Now, 200 ain't much when you compare it to the big blogs like Daily Kos, Atrios, Raw Story, etc., etc. But it's far more than I ever imagined.

When I made my first postings back in May of 2004 (check the archive for my first hesitant stabs at using the blog media), my aim was to point out bits of news that was bubbling up about the 2004 Presidential campaign to friends and family. And I chose the blog path as I didn't want to gum up their inboxes with unrequested emails--this was a more proper way to keep everyone current with the stuff I was seeing without becoming too much of a nuisance.

Today, I still see Mrs. F and my close friends and family as my primary audience. I sometimes feel like a bit of a remora, sucking off bits of others' content and fashioning it into my own. But I see Cracks as a filter for some folks (like Mrs. F and pals such as AR and Deege) who don't spend their day trolling other blogs and news sites and a starting point for others (like my friend Scratch) to discover those areas of the blogosphere that they might not have known existed.

Additionally, Cracks is my way of tracking my self education on issues that I've grown curious about--from spirtuality and its application to politics to green economics and energy policy--as well as a way to spread my eccentric obsessions (from the Chelsea football club to the latest tunes from Britain; yes, I'm a bit of an Anglophile).

When I started doing this blog back in 2004, I never would have guessed how much this would become a part of my life. (Nor did Mrs. F, for that matter.) I'm just glad I found my window, and I hope I'm adding some value to the blogosphere as I parade around in front of it.