The adventure in cyberspace that began for me around 1995 got a boost around 2006 with blogging ability and access to foreign newspapers in English or English translation.

At first I thought what a cool chance to show off my photography, poetry, and short stories.  That led to Oppenheim Arts & Letters, a Typepad blog, one that I am obviously continuing to support.  In turn, dabbling on the old blog, as I like to call it, supported a new kind of trouble: one mouse click and you were in Somalia, virtually.

Or Pakistan.

And so the commenting on political matters developed along with an in-house orientation and education in the field — conflict, politics, culture, psychology, language . . . all of that — not that I recall all that I have read, but I do recall enough to reach for or reference books I have read when opportunity arises.

So it came to pass that “OA&L” (Oppenheim Arts & Letters) would beget BackChannels, which has achieved its 501st post, developed about 100 subscribers, among them “listening post” robots, I’m sure, and a reach out to readers in about 65 nations each month (if I work on it a little bit).

Meanwhile, anchored by my Communicating Arts e-mail address, I chose to develop a Facebook community around politics, that to the effect of reaching out to or accumulating about 600 Facebook Buddies and a small roster of additional followers — and these days, I’m more inclined to follow than friend personalities I like unless or until we chatype together somewhere for a while.

That e-mail address had then been associated with then conventional web hosting and a frames-based web site, which bones reside only here today on my local desktop.

That arrangement, which cost a little more too, also after several years led to this web-blog, on which account I have re-seller powers (looking into the crystal ball, I may see some CSS in my future — or terrific short story writing).

🙂

Before transitioning the business’s e-mail address, however, I had gotten involved with WordPress via the main WordPress portal, and so had created Communicating Arts–The Journal (for business) and J.S. Oppenheim–Altogether (as a cozier live journal).

I’d always thought I’d wind up landed, and in the virtual way, I have: I have made myself the owner of a small Web Estate that includes four business or personal blogs, three e-mail addresses (with more in reserve, but I’m ready to close them) and several business and social networking accounts plus the home-based resources to support them with image-creating ability and thought.

Still, for all of that effort and exploration in cyberspace (plus Skype-ability), not much has changed around here since 2006 — but the position’s pretty good for a facility promoting editorial, photography, and research capabilities (this setting aside the life in music that is by its physical character seems more bound to real space singing and playing out, at least unless or until that too becomes a media-creating recording art in this space).

There’s a summary of the structure (plus a link to my Amazon Wish List) on this weblog’s J. S. Oppenheim page.

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I’d like to fold the studio’s journal into this presentation, but with the goal being to provide services to other people’s projects, I’m not in a hurry to work that issue.

At the end of each day, there really is just one me, however multifaceted, and one sole proprietorship, which is Communicating Arts.  I’ve split manufacturing — making pictures, writing short stories, writing folk songs should I return to that — ffrom providing services (general editorial, photography, and research functions) — at least I differentiate between the tow — and I think I’m ready to  tie off the packaging.

I did not want Windows to become The Window through which I would see the world.

Books are windows too.

And windshields are windows that still work Out There, as do shoes (and eyes), where the world is three dimensional and arrives equipped with weather.

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I got to take a road trip over the weekend — and this noted with many thanks to those who drove and hosted me in Cambridge, Maryland (I don’t know whether they want to be mentioned by name here or not) — and got away from so much computer-based communicating, media parsing, and the online development of image and presence, which has all gotten to be too much or, perhaps, just about completed.

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I am ready to work.

I am ready to retire.

The two dimensions — presence and service / retreat, restoration, and composition — blend well these days.

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