On June 6, I relaunched my Weblog after an extended period of lethargy/semi-hiatus. I’m still tinkering with the blog template, design, and overall editorial plan, but I feel that I’m on track to making this Weblog an important part of my writing endeavors. My goal is to provide virtually daily content to my readers on topics related broadly to “sex, culture, politics, spirit” with an Integral slant.

Now begins the slow march from obscurity and invisibility to fame and fortune. Yeah, right. Some writers say that fewer than 2 percent of Americans have reached a truly integrated level of consciousness. I don’t claim to know the precise number of Integrally aware folks. However, I believe that Integral remains very marginal in our culture (though it probably has a disproportionate relative influence).

I will count this Weblog a success if I can provide an alternative voice in the national (US) dialogue advocating for more comprehensive, inclusive, and evolutionary perspectives on life. My first month’s traffic figures indicate that I have a long ways to go before this Weblog becomes more than an extremely tiny blip on the blogosphere’s radar screen. My Web server logs for joe-perez.com show approximately 2,700 unique visitors who visit an average of 2.18 times and read 3.82 pages on each visit. That comes to approximately 90,000 hits and about 790 MB of bandwidth. (SiteMeter, notorious for underreporting actual traffic, has dramatically lower numbers.) Let’s see where it goes from here.

Thanks to all my visitors for making joe-perez.com a part of your Internet voyages. Extra love for those who comment and e-mail! I hope you keep coming back.

P.S.: If you have any ideas for improving your Weblog reading experience, or if you want to help out in any way (guest bloggers? contributors?), please don’t be shy. Just comment or drop me a line.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Joe Perez, traffic

The blogger behind one of the brighest lights in the Episcopal/Anglican blogosphere has decided to move on to new projects. I miss Father Jake’s insight and humor and enthusiasm already, and wish him every success as he retires from blogging.

Sadly, he cites his frustration with the toxic rhetoric in the Church as one important reason for his departure. Here’s how Jake starts his goodbye:

After much thought, prayer, and consultation with others, I’ve decided that it is time to close down Jake’s place.

This is not an easy decision. In some ways, it feels like a part of me is dying.

There’s many reasons for making this decision:

1. I believe that a constant exposure to some of the toxic rhetoric found on the net has had a negative impact on my spiritual health. I find it more difficult to discern the glory of God. Most likely this is because I’ve become too preoccupied with the depravity of man. I need to take care of myself.

2. I’m no longer sure that our conversations here are helpful to the Episcopal Church. We have become as polarized in our responses as those with whom we disagree. The reality is that we are all children of God. There is no “us” and “them.” There is only “we.” I honestly believe that. Continuing to focus on our divisions deepens them, and provides a poor witness to the hope that is in us.

3. I am considering launching a new project, which could be hindered by some of the strident conversations we have had here. I’m passionate about this project. I believe it to be a calling from God. I’m going to follow that call.

I know first-hand that the very act of reading the anti-gay hostility on many of the Christian blogs is spiritually painful. Taking regular vacations from blogging is an essential part of my “burnout avoidance plan”.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Christianity, Episcopal

As my readers are aware, I’ve completely redone my Web presence this month, merging my previously separate home page, the Until blog, and the Whole Writing blog. Some of this work is still in progress, including an update to my blogrolls (links to other blogs and frequently updated news and opinion sites). My lists contain links that I like to monitor. I read my favorites every day. I try to check in on the others once or twice a week.

I would love to have your help in suggesting new additions to the blogrolls for my next update in July. The blogs don’t all have to be “integrally informed”, and opinions range from fundamentalist to new age, conservative to progressive, friend and foe. Why don’t you suggest a link or two in the comments of this thread or by dropping me a line? By all means, feel free to nominate your own site if I’ve missed it. (And if you have a site and would rather that I linked to a different URL, please give me the update.)

Here are the lists as they currently stand:

Buddhist

• Buddhist Geeks
• Hokai
• Integral Options

Christian

• Crunchy Con
• Daily Episcopalian
• Father Jake
• GetReligion
• Hugo Schwyzer
• Indistinct Union
• Monastic Mumblings
• The Interior Life
• The Lead

Gay

• Best Gay Blogs
• Bloghungry
• Boi from Troy
• Gay Spirituality
• Greta Christina
• Independent Gay Forum
• Manhattan Offender
• Pam’s House Blend
• Petrelis Files
• Scott-o-Rama
• Soup Cans

Jewish

• Tikkun Ger

News

• AMERICAblog
• Andrew Sullivan
• BeliefNet
• CNN
• Crunchy Con
• Five Thirty Eight
• GetReligion
• Glen Greenwald
• Glenn Greenwald
• Huffington Post
• Marc Ambinder
• Matthew Yglesias
• MSNBC
• New York Times
• Political Animal
• Seattle Times
• Slate
• Slog (Dan Savage et al)
• Spiked
• Talking Points Memo
• The Corner
• The Onion
• The Revealer

Sex

• ErosBlog: The Sex Blog
• Slog (Dan Savage et al)

Spirit

• Act Awake
• Andrew Cohen
• Breeze Debris
• Bruce Alderman
• C4Chaos
• Craig Photography
• Daily Dickenson
• Durwin Foster
• For the Turnstiles
• Frozen Truth
• Gary Stamper
• Gay Spirituality
• Hokai
• Holons
• Illumined Views
• Indistinct Union
• Integral Awakening
• Integral Options
• Integral Practice
• Integral Transformation
• Julian Walker
• Ken Wilber
• Lucid Nutrition
• Mystery of Existence
• Mystic Saint
• NPR: My Cancer
• Open Integral
• Republic of T.
• Robb Smith
• Ross Douthat
• Stand Firm
• Steve Pavlina
• The Bilerico Project
• The Woodshed
• TimBomb
• Undercover Transsexual
• Wilber Watch
• Zoosphere

Technorati Tags: blogs, Spirit