Before I answer–speaking of the surreal–do you ever wonder how people find your weblog? I have been looking at my blog’s “referer stats“–the searches that found me. I now feel honored, and spooked, and very puzzled.
I’m both honored and spooked that people come here from searches for “E.B. White” or “Once More to the Lake.” Honored, because I love E.B. White–his honesty, insight, and crafty craftsmanship. (Check out his biography for more.) Spooked, to picture White’s admirers reading my prose. Wooooohhh, scary.
I first started blogging about Republican “Astroturf”–PR push-pieces sent out to small-town papers by the RNC, disguised as local “letters to the editor.” Now, six months later, people end up at my blog after searches for things like “where to buy astroturf”, “astroturf colors”, even “astroturf snow.”
Some searches that end up here are even more puzzling. “Charlotte’s+Web+sexist”? I never said that! “Custodial parents+are+evil”? I said the opposite! “Why+is+my+cat+timid”? Errrrr–huh?
Is this the fault of search engines or misshaped queries? Nahhhh, let’s join Andrew Orlowski and blame sneaky bloggers!
That’s right, folks! I confess–I wanted readers who had (sob) no interest in my blog. I set my sneaky net to capture people looking for something that I don’t offer. Okay, I’m no alpha-blogger–but we epsilon-bloggers are evil in our own way.
Coming next week: how custodial parents and colored astroturf create semiotic heuristic synergy–and that’s why your cat is timid!
So, how many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? Best answer I know is, “To get to the other side.”
1 response so far ↓
1 Elayne Riggs // Jun 12, 2003 at 12:41 pm
No, I’m afraid that’s not the correct answer. The punchline should read “The mice were hunchbacked.”