Blog historiography

I started this blog twelve years ago, on May 1, 2011. Ever since that time, I have always enjoyed doing some kind of retrospective post on the blog's anniversary. 

For this year's post, I want to highlight some of the most important posts I have made over the years. These are not necessarily the best posts, but posts that are significant in one way or another.

Here I am! (May 1, 2011)

This is the post that started it all, in which I explained my purposes for blogging. I had been reading my mission emails, and I was glad to have that record of my life. This blog has continued that legacy of keeping a public record. I picked the URL badsettlement (as in, a bad town) because that's what Melville means. If I were making my blog today, I would have picked a different URL. Oh well. (I feel like I really became who I am in 2012, and I'm embarrassed by many things I did prior to that year.)

The Ghost of Independence Days Past (June 12, 2011)

This was the first of a series of posts in which I picked a holiday, then remembered every detail I could about every holiday of my life. I made it through the entire calendar, and then I created another blog devoted entirely to remembering things. I wrote on that blog consistently for almost four years, but I got burned out doing it every week, and I ran out of topics to remember. I published my mission emails for two years for the tenth anniversary of my mission. That blog is dormant now.
 

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New (January 1, 2012)

This was the first New Year's post, in which I went month by month to remember what happened that year, just like many news organizations do. I do this every year, and it's one of my favorite posts to make.

One year of blogging (May 1, 2012)

This was my first anniversary blog. In this case, I did a brief recap of every post from my first year of blogging (similar to this very post, except I did every one). I have taken a different approach every year, but I have blogged every May 1.

Geology 210, week one (August 25, 2013)

One of my most memorable college classes was Geology 201, a field studies class where we spent two weeks camping and learning about geology. This post is the first of two that describe what we did and learned in that "class."

Leaves are falling (September 20, 2015)

The beginning of this post was a mediocre recap of trail running in the fall, but it was really significant because it marked the first installment of Pumpkinundation Roundup, in which I document the pumpkin and other fall flavors that come out every year. This segment has proved surprisingly popular. I have often toyed with the idea of creating another blog or social media account devoted exclusively to seasonal foods all year round, but that would not be healthy for me.

The Failures of the Pioneers (July 24, 2016)

Working for the Church History Department gave me insights about pioneers, so when I saw that Pioneer Day was on a Sunday, I volunteered to speak in sacrament meeting, because I thought I had some profound insights. This post is that talk. I was pleased with how it turned out, and I received many compliments, even from people I didn't know.

Goal accomplished! (September 9, 2018)

When I was twenty-nine, I visited all twenty-nine county seats in Utah. This blog post describes my visit to the last two, Moab (Grand County) and Monticello (San Juan County), as well as a brief recap of the other twenty-seven counties and seats.

The big 3-0 (September 30, 2018)

Visiting all the county seats was part of a larger project of doing fun things before I turned thirty. This blog post recounted forty fun and/or unusual bucket-list items I did while I was twenty-nine.

The end of a decade (December 29, 2019)

This was the usual year-end blog post, except that I also did a recap of every year of the 2010s. But I have always regretted that I forgot an important event from 2017, visiting Wyoming to see the solar eclipse.

Bad dates (February 13, 2022)

In honor of Valentine's Day, I recounted four awkward dates I had been on over the years. At the time I made this post, I was still planning on marrying a woman, and I hoped this post would enable me to continue to pass as straight. 

Coming Out; or, There's Always Been a Rainbow Hanging over Your Head (October 11, 2022)

This post recounts my experiences as a closeted gay boy/man throughout my life. Some people have told me this was my best post ever, and I don't disagree. But I had a lot of time to think about it. Back in the spring of 2012, there was a viral post by Josh Weed about being in a mixed-orientation marriage. I planned on doing that as well. (I was so disappointed when they announced they were divorcing in 2018.) Because of his blog post, I thought that one day I would be writing my own coming-out post. But I figured the post would be once I was married, or at least while I was still planning to marry a woman. Then last spring (2022), I realized that every time I thought about dating or marrying women, it just stressed me out. The thought of coming home from work every day and having to care for the emotional needs of a woman is more than I can bear, and it wouldn't be fair to my wife to be married to someone who couldn't love her authentically. I spent a few months trying to convince myself I was asexual and/or aromantic, but by late July/early August, I finally came to terms with being gay. Once I came to that realization, I knew I was going to come out publicly on National Coming Out Day. So I had two months to mentally draft my post, and I finally wrote it down almost two weeks before I published it. But really, the idea had been germinating in my mind for ten years already.

Four Pillars of Faith (February 26, 2023)

Last year I joined a singles ward again, and in February they asked me to speak, basically letting me choose what I said. I was really pleased with this talk I wrote, and I have received many compliments on it. I really appreciate talks that keep it real, so I tried to do the same.

I have blogged every Sunday since I began, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. Blogging was already on its way out when I began, and very few people regularly blog anymore. Many people just put their stuff on social media, but I think a blog is a more accessible record of my life. And there are some things that I don't want to put on social media, but I'm happy to put them on a blog, where only the people who care enough to click will see them.