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Blogging 101
For beginner and seasoned writers alike, this online class is well worth the time and effort… so far.
Today’s assignment requires me to visit a specific page filled with daily topic prompts to stimulate a blog entry. While I may be too literal to find a figuratively acquired topic from the text presented, I did cycle through the ideas until I got to one headlined “Toot Your Own Horn.”
Self-deprecation was a hallmark of this blog in its previous incarnation and pointing out my lack of skills in developing company profits by which I will retire still feature prominently, there is a bit of hubris involved in placing words on a screen – one after another – in such a manner as to believe they are interesting enough to be read. My statistics prove my lack of skill in this area as well. However, I choose to blame that on poor marketing. I’m not read because nobody knows I wrote. Still, I endure.
Again hubris is involved when assuming I’m worth reading in the sea of text available from better writers… professional writers… writers who understand the science behind the strings of words. Still, I endure.
It has been suggested I write better than I speak, which should make me cringe each time I open my mouth, yet I simply take it as impetus to place words together on a page rather than record them in video. Occasionally, I do construct a line of careful craftsmanship and place it miraculously within other lines as to evoke a mood altering image or emotional connection. These fleeting, nearly accidental combinations keep me trying. Perhaps one day I’ll be the thesis of some Master’s student studying contemporary literature in the early digital age. Or perhaps I’ll be in grammar texts as to what not do written for grammar school children.
Either way – immortality awaits!
NAKd Example
Far too often we tend to get caught up in what we are “supposed” to be. While being accepted by the society in which we live is vital to survival and the classic Freudian Ego struggles against such conformity at the expense of our own desires shapes our personalities, this is not the end of the conversation.
Yes, we have decided rudeness is unacceptable and doing as we please when we please smacks up against limitations set as polite. Yes, the odd one is more often shunned than understood. And yes, one tends to find more happiness in giving than receiving.
However, there are situations in which “they” be damned for unreasonable proscriptions. It seems sexuality, gender assignment, and nudity are three dominating my awareness lately.
As a company and personally, I see no reason to admonish a sissy lumberjack with a wife and a husband who’d rather work nude. Nor is there a problem with the furry butch lumberjack with a wife of plain countenance who’s happy with the pattern of his flannel shirt.
An essay promoted by ClothesFreeLife on Twitter introduced me to a blogger with little shared with the public. TheNaturistGuy wrote a short essay describing some of the highlights of his recent year. This man needs to be encouraged with praiseful song and thunderous applause to post more – to give us an accurate view into the true experiences of social nudity.
While we at NAKd.life applaud the nudity and his adventures in the socially nude subculture, it’s his openness and frank description of motivation and experiences which make him NAKd.
Complaint
This post contains no pictures, no vulgarity, and nothing to offend nor corrupt the young. This post is a complaint – inspired by a complaint – in response to a complaint.
This series of essays is meant for this company’s audience. Originally it was a journal of personal musings for those who would happen across its digital journey within the servers of the internet. However, we have redesigned its layout, scope, and mission to be more professional… or something attempting professionalism.
All companies have policies to protect their ability to provide goods and services to as many potential customers as possible. WordPress is no exception; they have many bytes of text listing their intentions in the Terms of Use format none of us read anymore. One such is an ability to modify one’s experience to exclude unwanted content and it is beholden upon the creator to recognize what would be unwanted by the majority.
https://en.support.wordpress.com/mature-content/
So, this post is a warning!
NAKd.life is a company dedicated to men. ADULT men, as is redundant since children of the male gender are referred to as BOYS. Our content is meant for MEN. Our content is primarily created by MEN, is edited by MEN, and is designed to be appreciated as only MEN can.
When NAKd.life moves out of the digital realm and begins its life as a “brick & mortar” entity we will then begin to deal with women and children as part of our customer base while the digital life of the company will inevitably continue as a purely MALE experience.
To us, this is plain. Aside from the occasional bits of content either created or featuring WOMEN (again, not GIRLS) there are no indications our goods nor services were ever meant to be experienced by those of the female gender. (Trans/poly-sexuals blur this delineation, but that’s another post.) We suspect most WOMEN would find our company stereotypical and possibly “silly.” This is not to say we exclude women. Nay, we value their contributions as yet another voice in our mission of discovery. We do, however, exclude children in every appropriate manner.
In response to this inspiring complaint, we have now notified the proper authorities of this company’s intentions. We have marked this collection of essays as “mature” thereby removing its appearance from many avenues of discovery. This limitation to our marketing ability is not appreciated, yet to protect the privilege of parents around the world in their choice to neglect an ethical education for their children, relieve them of any responsibility of internet access oversight, as well as comply with the policies of this host; we have taken the necessary steps.
We feel this may perhaps be shameful in the end as many people, regardless of gender or age, could benefit from our message as stated in the Mission Statement in the right-side panel. This is why we exist – to have a conversation about topics often overlooked in Western society, the definition of MALE.
Glimpse
My work schedule doesn’t leave a lot of free time to leisure, chore, nor advance the success of our company so I don’t have to go to work. A paradox I’ve yet to riddle.
We are now half-way through the shortest month of the year, and yet I’ve done seemingly little with the preparation of March’s issue. Paul says he’s been hard at work, yet I’ve done nothing to bring my self up-to-date. This is not to say we’ve done no work!
We did sit down and start to decide on a timeline for each month. We tend to be procrastinators and that tends to make the last two weeks of the month hectic. We also seem to have capped out our audience and need to find new ways to keep expanding, so an advertising strategy is in order… all while trying to keep in agreement on the vision/purpose/mission of the company.
So while we are enjoying the slower pace of these winter days (and wishing for heat), NAKd.life is still making plans, laying out magazine issues, and coming up with interesting ad content to keep people sharing us with friends.
Meanwhile, a little Stephen Colbert to make you smile:
Daring Drop
New Look!
What do you think? We updated the site, added a few things, changed some others, and got rid of the tedium. From now on we will use this site to keep you informed of our boring lives, the interesting things our readers add to the magazine, and some interesting stuff we might like to share with you that other – smarter – people may have said… or we might just make it all up and attempt entertainment.
Be aware, every once in a while, our dog likes to sleep on the laptop keyboard and may end up posting herself. So, if you read something actually entertaining, it’s probably from her.
February Issue
Now available at http://magazine.nakd.life
People Do Love Doors
Before the advent of dwellings, surely our species classified lands, or herds, or people as their own. We have a need to define things. Christians believe it’s a command from God, sociologists believe it’s a desire to be accepted as a mechanism for survival, psychologists think it’s a way to further manipulate our environment and give the individual purpose. Whatever the reasons, we love doors.
One of my personal pet peeves is how many doors stand between me and what I’m attempting. Literal doors need to be opened for me to cook a meal and clean the inedible. Figurative doors need to be opened to be allowed in the kitchen in the first place.
Yet such doors help define my place in a space. Lovers sit on the sofa in the other room. Parents sit on another sofa 1,400 miles away. Women seem to taunt me from behind glass doors with their ever-changing definitions of what to do on this side of the door and men seem to dare me to break the glass between us to prove myself worthy of being in the same space as them. Let’s not even begin to discuss the door that stands between myself and my pets.
“You are so small, yet you construct rooms even smaller,” said once a favorite character on my favorite television show. How intensely apt for a writer to put the words in the mouth of a resurrected king capable of shattering every door that stood in his way. How surprising when the reality of the line came from just another one of my species.
2 Things
We watched some “family” movies tonight, Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2. It occurred to me that Hotel Transylvania is not called Hotel Transylvania 1. Which reminds me of other grammatical pet peeves, such as unthawing a frozen turkey and whatever irregardless is supposed to mean.
So I opened WordPress to write it down and got sidetracked by thinking I should probably change the theme of the blog as it is no longer just my blog but the company’s. NAKd.life should not have a blog about the tedious randomness that is my life, though elements of that can be part of our branding and social media promotion.
BTW, I don’t mean that in the typical Mad Men advertising sort of way. Social Media marketing is all about relationships and holding conversations with people… again not in the pre-1990 sense.
So perhaps I’ll alter the appearance and functionality of this little experiment to more coincide with our company vision. Which we have altered our wording to further clarify our mission:
NAKd.life is about social responsibility and personal wellness focused on celebrating men as they are. NAKd is about more than not wearing clothes but exposing an authentic self in spite of what is expected. Real men. Really NAKd.
Evil Relativism
Ethics 101 taught me the difference between Relativism and Absolutism. Since I have a nearly mindless job, I have a lot of time to think about various ramblings… including what I could write here. The Tedium Treatise could not get more tedious than it does in my head while working.
So back to ethics class… The instructor made a big deal about the two concepts, for good reason. The point was there must be a balance between “live and let live” between two cultures (even personal morality of individual people) and the idea that there is only one way to live. For some reason, I never connected this to the “Religious Right” before.
What I hear from “those” people is a fear that American culture is straying too far from what they consider moral and into acceptance of any behavior conceivable all to satisfy personal liberty. They seem to believe there need to be limits on personal liberty lest it offend someone else’s personal liberty. By the way, this is not a view unique to the current batch of hysterical zealots looking to “Make America Great Again.”
The group formerly known as “The Moral Majority” seems bent on defining all American behavior within a yet to be determined set of behaviors and all else is deemed criminal, while the other extreme is equally bent on allowing anything in the legal sense and leaving it up to the individual to decide for themselves. Amazing how something as old as Aristotle is still at work yet as misunderstood by the regular Joe as it was in the time of Aristotle. Only difference is now I can use Periscope to find out how to behave from the comfort of my very own sofa.
This trend by the religiously conservative extremist seems to be a reaction to the blatant actions of the live-and-let-live liberal. Since the human mind seeks patterns in everything, safety in the familiar, and black-and-white situations are easier to predict, it should have occurred to me what the zealots mission really is about.
I agree with the right’s goal of moral accountability, I do not agree with their getting to decide what is moral… especially since they are using 2,000 year-old guidelines written in metaphor for a culture that knew nothing of the world beyond the next hill (much less hold a conversation with anyone from over there). Their contribution to the Great Debate that is America must be allowed and considered, yet there is the problem.
Too many of these religiously conservative voices want only to hear their own voice. They are not part of the Great Debate but merely want to end it in their favor. Try to imagine a society like that, then turn on the infotainment describing the latest beheading in Syria.
Having made this connection between Relativism, Absolutism, and the religiously conservative voter/politician I am better able to understand their point of view. However, I will probably find myself even more frustrated in the Great Debate with them because they seem blind to the reactionary nature motivating their advocacy. “Be strict because leniency leads to ruin” is the very dualistic thinking that created Joseph McCarthy. Yet “spare the rod, spoil the child” quote of Dr. Spock lead to Woodstock… which later lead to the Moral Majority. So take that for what it’s worth.
NAKd.life Opus 