From Here to There & Back Again

¡Hola! Everybody...
I see y360! has finally died. It died a slow, painful death. Some things need to fall by the wayside... I see some eulogies being passed around, so why not?

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-=[ How I got Here from There ]=-

I have been writing for the 'net since waaaay before blogging was ever invented. Most of my earlier writing came in the form of “interactions” on newsgroups (if you have to ask... ). Actually, I’ve been on the ‘net since the early 90s when I used mostly to connect with social scientists, psychologists, and researchers.

Man! How I marveled at how some were able to cite studies and pull up stats defending one particular policy or theory over another! How I wanted so badly to become as conversant and at ease with method and analysis as these people.

Writing on the ‘net made me a lot smarter, quicker, and also a lot more confrontational than I am in real life. But man was it fun. LOL!

After several legendary flame wars involving everything from relational psychoanalysis, economics, and cultural studies to whether the Yankees were better than the Orioles, I decided to stop writing. School was almost over, my life had changed, and it was time for this flame warrior to hang up the old gloves. What shocked me was that the day after I announced my “retirement” I received literally 100s of emails from people telling me I was like their morning cup of coffee and that my writing would be missed. I was quite honestly flabbergasted.

Over the years, I have met, through my writing, people from all over the world. A journalist from Australia came to visit NYC twice, for example. An actress from Cuba stayed at my place when I was married. A dancer from the Netherlands, people from all over the US. I met a salsa fanatic from Germany (“Der Salsaholic”), and my friend met and married a woman from Spain. I met a Marxist professor from India teaching at Michigan and a photographer who eventually wrote a book on salsa. I met musicians, many of whom were my personal heroes, and artists of all kinds.

I was also threatened and stalked by Cuban-American reactionaries, and Christian fundamentalists, as well as white supremacists, and black separatists. LOL

Suffice it to say that my earlier ‘net interactions were quite rewarding. But I realized I had to stop writing for the ‘net and fighting all those wars. Ask anyone who knew me at the time and they will tell you I was formidable -- people didn’t really want to fuck with me too much. LOL!

I stopped, though, and I’m glad I did. Then one day many years later, I posted an article on death on, of all places, a singles site. Again, I was shocked at the number of personal messages I recieved. I may not be a good writer, but damn, sometimes I can reach a heart.

So I began writing again. All this was before blogging and as my interest in matters sexual developed, the more I wrote about it. I kept getting thrown off sites because my subject matter was controversial: sex and religion. By then I think I attracted a small group of fundies who seemed to want to shut me down. Eventually, I started my own website and for a while I had a pretty good following -- over 150 registered users, but then the guy who was doing the tech part was trying to make money off my popularity, so I shut it down. anyway, a friend told me about this site where I could blog -- actually do what I had been doing for while, but on a platform made for the kind of writing I was doing. He sent me a link to y360, and the rest, as they say, was history. I quickly had a following. Some people have been reading me for years and, as I said, sometimes -- sometimes -- I can touch a heart, or make someone think or get pissed off. LOL!

I was kicked off y360 about 6-8 times. I forget the number of times. Now, mind you: I never hassled women, nor did I stalk anyone, for that matter. My content was, however, controversial and I love to say shit like “fuck” and “goddamn” and shit like that. But mostly, I noticed that I would get deleted if I posted too much on sex and the religious persecution and repression of sex.

I met quite a few people on 360. I think 360 was OK... it wasn’t all that. You know how it is: someone dies and all of sudden, the muthafucka was a saint, right? Shit, people will probably say nice things about me when I die, which proves that it doesn’t mean squat. I met some wonderful people, yes. But gawd! I met some seriously deranged muthafuckas! LOL

Anyway, long before I was kicked off y360, I had created an account here and on Blogger before it was co-opted by Google. I just never really put the effort into nurturing these sites. With 360 being treated like an unwanted stepchild and its users acting like gluttons for punishment, I decided not to return after the last boot and stayed here. Someone suggested I turn my attention to my blogger site (thanks Rip!), and since then, I’ve given some half-hearted attempts at driving traffic there. I think eventually I’ll stay at blogger (or start my own site). Well, that’s how I got here.

Good riddance to the rabble on 360 and I hope those good souls I met there stay connected with me somehow.

Love,

Eddie