Death By Blogging?

I can't be the only blogger who recognized a few home truths from this piece. And taking a week off the blog certainly underlined how addictive and compulsive and draining it can be. It's as much like detox as vacation. You stop blogging and it's not as if you can start reading books. You just need a rest from all words and arguments for a while. Music helps; walks; dancing; sleeping; movies; beagles: anything but words. And then there's the regaining of personal space. It's a queer thing - in the older sense of queer - to rarely have a thought unexpressed, an observation not noted. And it's not good for the soul. The physical hazards of blogging are nothing compared to the spiritual ones.

All of which is throat-clearing to say a public thanks to Patrick for doing such a diligent, wide-ranging, eclectic job of keeping the Dish al dente for seven days. Over the last year and a bit at the Atlantic, I've been able to bring interns and support to the blog and Patrick is now the veteran of the alums. He helps daily, hourly, and through the weekends. It also happens that I seem to have come down with some kind of flu/fever bout just as I was about to start back up tonight, so I've asked Patrick to co-blog with me for a few days until I feel back to normal. His posts will be marked with his signature, mine as normal. I'll be bed-blogging, but might take a while to get back to the normal pace. Thanks for the break.