RIP Relative Collective

It's a sad day. Time to admit the obvious: The Relative collective blog has died. I created the blog back in December as a way for the Kerson-Ritz family to stay in touch. In theory it was a great plan, ripe with all the potential that the Internet brings. The blog would be an easy way for our far flung family to share, interact, communicate. We would build a warm loving community of Kersons and Ritzes. The first batch email and post reflect this soaring optimism.

Hello and welcome to A Relative Collective, the site Roman Polanski called, "Hommage a le maigre." Join now and, for a limited time, take advantage of special member benefits: stay in touch with other collectivites; share your deepest secrets and darkest thoughts; accrue street cred and positive karmic energy; and whiten your teeth with ARC's new improved fast-acting, scientifically tested fluoride emulsion salve. To join post your name and e-mail address in the comments section below and a Relative Collective representative will contact you with information on how to join. We'll see you online future collectivite!

But, this exuberance was quickly, definitively crushed. Over the subsequent months five people joined. My sister joined twice with different email accounts. One person asked for an invitation and never joined. Several people promised to join and never did. And, three people, including me, posted. The longest post, short of my blathering ramblings, was from my father:

I will be adding...astute commentary and in-depth psychological insights into the human condition." I know. I know I said this, and I know that I got your hopes up. They are coming. These things take time and profound insight, which does not come every day.

But you have to admit (well, you don't 'have to' really, but, and if you do, please admit it to yourself as I don't need to hear about it) that quote about love was good. And that certainly covers a big, or at least the best, part of 'the human condition'.

But other more profound things are eluding me right now.

I have added a few photographs that I like.

But I'm waiting for someone else to show up here. Although a few folks have signed up... nada, nothing, zip.

Perhaps people are not be saying anything because the two sides of the families don't know each other and so they are feeling shy. Consider this your formal introductions; Lex/Bill and Linda/Dallas and Mike/Terri (Isaac's aunt's & uncle & their spouses) and Robin/Ron and Joe/Dana (Lisa's cousins & spouses). Jack/Caroline (Isaac grandfather & his wife), Sam/Katah (Isaac's uncle & wife), Peter, Gabby, Sofia, Josh, (Isaac's cousins and Sam's children) and of course, as everyone knows, Jiyeoun is Isaac's lovely new wife and "Peach" is Justine's other name; which she some times uses with close family members. (If I have forgotten anyone I pre-offer my deepest apologies, I don't know who Isaac sent invitations out too.)

His post gives you a feeling for the blog's general tenor: desperate pleading for attention. I did my part by writing an overly detailed description of how to post images to the blog on the mistaken premise that photographs would generate more interest. It did not help.

After a few short posts by my cousin, a few pretty pictures my father took, and two of my long-winded treaties, the whole experiment fizzled.

I am going to move the highlights on to The Beige Report website -- a photoessay of our trip to Busan at Christmas and an overview of my reading habits circa January 2005 -- and postdate them to match the day they posted. Then, A Relative Collective will be no more.

The frequent failure/short life span of blogs is something that's not often discussed. I was looking around for my found Haiku bit the other day and discovered that easily half of the blogger.com sites are dead. Many of them consist of one post that says: "Hi! This is my first post to my new blog. I'm going to try this whole bloging thing out and see what happens. I don't know how often I'll post." Then, nothing. Curiously many of the one-post blogs were started in the late spring to mid summer of 2004. Guess that's when bloging rose to public consciousness, when news coverage was at it's height. That's when I started bloging.

Well, A Relative Collective, rest in peace. I will remember you with frustration, embarrassment, and depression.