A NEW BLOG

If you check in with me with any regularity on The Buddha Diaries, you will have noticed that I have been silent for a couple of weeks now. I have been working, instead, on the idea for a new blog--one that is in line with my current interest in boyhood memories.

I have mentioned this interest here before, and indeed have already posted a couple of my own memories on The Buddha Diaries. Otherwise, I have been casting a wide net among friends, colleagues and acquaintances, with the intention of soliciting significant memories from other men. I have already received several dozen contributions. My ultimate goal is to edit these and publish them in book form. I believe it will make a timely and interesting publication. In a culture where men generally feel uncomfortable with introspection and are taught from an early age that it's dangerous to show feelings, I've have been surprised by the enthusiasm with which so many have responded to my idea. It is, after all, our experience as boys that makes us the men we are today.

On the way to the book, then, I decided that a blog would afford me the opportunity to put some of these responses out into the world; and perhaps, if the blog attracts a readership, to encourage submissions from other men. I started out with the idea of a Boyhood Memories blog but discovered, to my dismay, that the url had already been taken years ago by a handsome Greek gentleman, whose last post was in 2008. I believe that he has since died. I do not have the skills--either the language skills or the blogging skills--to know how to request the release of the domain; if anyone can help, I'd be more than grateful. In the meantime, as I've said elsewhere, it's all Greek to me.

Casting about for other possibilities, I received a number of good suggestions from friends. After a lot of thought, I settled on Boyhood Moments--a title that captures what I'm after in requesting memories: those clear, starkly remembered moments from boyhood that live on with us and, in retrospect, prove to have been formative in our lives. Some may be blissful, others filled with pain; some traumatic, others merely dramatic. Several themes have been emerging as I receive contributions. Father stories and mother stories, of course; stories of sexual awakening and puppy love, of brave deeds and misdeeds, of reward and punishment; stories of violence and disaster, war and peace... And so on.

So there you have it. I suspect that I will not be posting much, if at all, in the Buddha Diaries in the coming weeks and months. I do encourage you, however, to click on over and join me on Boyhood Moments. I hope you'll find the experience as rewarding as I do.

Sending metta to all, Peter