Forward, into the past

Reading a blog is like reading an early 19th-century newspaper. Each item reflects the publisher’s point of view and is more or less identically displayed. One thing follows another, and halfway down the third column you learn the country is at war.

Templates, user options, etc., limit what the technically unsavvy blogger can do about the look of the page or the ordering of written matter. Initiates in HTML coding can do all sorts of tinkering; but I am not among the elect.

One way a non-geek blogger can enliven the proceedings is to write attention-getting headlines. "Lang Lang Has Lesbian Hair," for instance. http://reverberatehills.blogspot.com/

Clearly, this space has some growing to do in the frisky headline department. My inclination is to play it straight with news items and reviews, and save creative come-hithers for essays and commentary. Newspaper habits die hard. Some of them are good habits.