Andrew Sullivan on Break
Having been distracted with other matters today, I’m just learning that Andrew Sullivan is taking a long break from blogging:
After much hemming and hawing, I’ve decided to put the blog as you’ve known it on hiatus for a few months. The Dish will still exist, the site will be updated weekly with new feature articles, and I’ll still post when I feel like it. But it won’t have the regularity or content of the past four and a half years. Why? The simple answer is that I want to take a breather, to write a long-overdue book, to read some more, travel to Europe and the Middle East, and work on some longer projects. Much as I would like to do everything, I’ve been unable to give the blog my full attention and make any progress on a book (and I’m two years behind). It’s not so much the time as the mindset. The ability to keep on top of almost everything on a daily and hourly basis just isn’t compatible with the time and space to mull over some difficult issues in a leisurely and deliberate manner. Others might be able to do it. But I’ve tried and failed. Besides, this is my fifth year of daily blogging – I was doing this when Clinton was president and Osama bin Laden was largely unknown – and I’ve always thought it’s a good idea to quit something after around five years or so. Before it becomes a chore. Before you become numb.
A shame but perfectly understandable. One does hope that it’s been a while since his latest telethon, however.
I don’t read Sully as much as I once did, simply because he went from being one of only a handful of bloggers of which I was aware to one among hundreds. While I disagree with him a lot more these days than I used to, he’s still one of the best public intellectuals around. I’ll look forward to his occasional appearances on Chris Matthews’ Sunday show and his longer-form writing.
via Steven Taylor
Update (1510): John Cole has a rather delicious take on Sully’s announcement:
So he is quitting, except for when it tickles his fancy, and then he will blog, but check back for new material and a site re-design, and he is not really quitting and will be back in nine months.
I, for one, am going to miss him.
Heh.
He should’ve run another pledge drive before doing this hiatus. Afterall, that was what he did last August when he took a whole month off.
One of the main reasons I don’t read Sully anymore is his lack of an RSS feed. My blog reading is so heavily RSS-centered that I just don’t get to any blogs that don’t show up in Sage. (Except Lileks.)
There are a couple of third-person RSS feeds for Sullivan – very useful now to find the rare occasion there is a new post. The one I use is (via Wizbang): http://www.paperlined.org/rss/feeds/andrewsullivan.rss
Or you can do a Goggle search for others.
As for Sullivan, his was the first political blog I ever read, having seen his URL at the bottom of the screen on a CSPAN appearance long ago. Maybe during his time off he’ll learn to drive and visit red America outside the major cities and universities.
I’ve got to disagree with you about Sullivan. I read his blog at the beginning and found some useful items in it. Over time, he has become increasingly shrill and far too willing to label anybody who disagrees with him a “bigot.” Very tiresome.
He has, in the past few months, become virtually unreadable. The whining about gays, particularly from a man born to class and wealth, is foolishness. It would be best if he closed up shop completely and went home.
Sullivan gone!
How will we survive?
:>)
My first thought was exactly that; hope for the sake of the gullible that it hasn’t been too long since his latest medical expense funding drive.
My second thought was to wonder if he’d gotten tired of being kicked around so much lately.