Monday, June 3, 2013

Goodbye Kittens

When Jeff Simpson heralded the fall of the Visigoth of blogs, Loots and Slobbers, he foresaw a sad, sad day:
The thing to worry about though is if BootsandKittens will also be leaving us! 
As if he were the harbinger of doom, Jeff's words tragically came true.  The Boot has fallen on the Kitten:
Ten years ago today, B&S was birthed by Jed. It’s been a fun ride. (That's what he said!)

You see, Gentle Reader, when a man and another man like each other very, very much, they get together with thoughts of doing something very private and very special that just might bring a new life into this world. One man takes the passive behind-the-scenes role, the other man gets on top, wears the spurs and shakes his cowboy hat in the air like he's winning the rodeo, and the next thing you know a few months later, a blog is born.

Jed was the long-suffering behind-the-scenes guy. I've never been very good with the computer. I was the one on top with the chaps and the TV appearances. Sure, I got the groupies and adulation. There's nothing like putting on a nice suit and tie and standing before a room of Republican men as if I had nothing to hide, and to hear their applause, and feel their admiration as they looked me over, top to bottom! (That's not to say there weren't a few women in the room, too. There always are. You can tell the single ones because they wearest the brightest red suit jackets and pant suits. The only exception to that is Becky Kleefisch. The other married ones stick to more somber colors.)

It's not all about shaking the hands of other guys and accepting their free drinks and sympathetic glances. It's been tiring sometimes, too. Maybe everyone is getting tired of blogs like mine. There's only so many ways you can spin what the Wisconsin GOP wants you to spin. Freedom and fear, job creators and tax breaks, blinders tight to suppress the cognitive dissonance, rah-rah guns, my wife doesn't know me, huntin', grillin', Jesus, Texas, blah blah, day after day, week after week, it all wears on a man. Wears you down. The endless forwarded emails of the week's talking points. The pain of not saying what you'd really like to say, because you have an image and an ideology to uphold, not to mention a wife and kids who certainly derive some small part of their self-worth in thinking that I'm playing an important role in spreading Republicanism. The inside gossip about who's sucking up to who, and who's on the outs because they were busted for drunk driving with their mistress in the car or engaging in sexual blackmail over the Internet or whatever. And that's not even beginning to describe the parts of Christian Schneider and Brian Fraley that one needs to overlook. It never stops.

Ten years is long enough. Maybe I'll continue to appear on Wisconsin Public Radio. My wife has always said I've got a face made for radio.

And it's not like I'm giving up on Jed. (I cain't quit you, Jed!) He was there for me in the dorms. He was there for me all these years. We'll still get together every year like we always do, except instead of calling them "trips to visit Jed to work on the blog" we'll need to refer to them as "trips to visit Jed to go fishing" or something like that.

Thank you all for reading.

With that, I’m done. I’ll see you around town and the interwebs. Thanks for the memories.

Indeed.
No, I'm not crying. It's just a touch of hay fever.

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