Monday, June 1, 2009

MISS AMERICAN MOXIE'S ADIEU

So here's the deal. Over the decades, my close friends and family have repeatedly forgiven me for my predictable disappearing acts lasting days to months. Alas, you and I don't have that kind of bargain. For me to post the odd entry just ain't blogging. Rather than fade away I've decided to intentionally go.
It's this tricky business of reinvention, you see. Of never knowing what the next day will bring. One day opportunity, next day disappointment, the third a breakthrough, all fine in the privacy of one's own world.

But to drag you through it? If not step by step, inferred by temper and tone? Nah.

For now, the Comments section on the blog is open. You're quite welcome to give me shit for bailing on you without first consulting. But if our last six months together are any indication, you're likely way ahead of me, even anticipating it was getting time for me to go.

And return! of course. I always do. So if you leave me your-email address, you'll be the first to know.


Love, Ketzel
at 7:13 PM

50 comments:

  1. I was so pleased to see something pop up today in my blog watching RSS thingy from you. alas, it is sad news, again. Please put me on your email list -- I love your radio, love your writing, and really wanted to meet you and go on the Turkey tulip trip. again, alas! best wishes in your next (& private) endeavors. Lisa millionsafari@gmail.com
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  2. Go! Get outa here! Reinvent! I'll be eagerly awainting the unveiling of the new improved.
    Be well,
    Sondra
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  3. No, no don't go.

    Okay. I've given you what youa sked for. And I know a lot of bloggers who are rethinking their current blogging style including yours truly.

    But, how about just the occasional update here--we'll be here waiting for you and happy when it comes, even if it is not often.

    I don't post my e-mail straight out on publicly accessible comment forms, though. That and I may be changing it in the next couple of months.
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  4. i believe that you have my email address with this comment
    Yes, if you decided to go public again in some form
    i'd like to get the news.

    Good luck.
    Fare Well.
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  5. very sad, first NPR and now the blog. Good Luck and come back when you are ready.
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  6. Well. Hope you find you need to pop in now and then and drop tidbits on us. Esp. if you take another grand journey!


    I'll be stopping by once in a while in hopes of seeing you again.

    That said, Cheers! Go out and BE!
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  7. How could we, your adoring fans, be so ungenerous as to not let you go? But, we are whining here in Sacramento. Probably loud enough for you to hear in Portland. You probably heard our screams months ago, when NPR caught us off guard. Maurice Sendak's monster's lines from "Where the wild things are" keep trumpeting through our heads,"...pleases don't go , we love you so" (It's been a long time, apologies to Sendak if that line is not quite right)

    Be well, update when you can and you are ALWAYS welcome to visit & spread the word in Sacramento.
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  8. I've never blogged though I've commented plenty and it's not a fair deal. If you're going to be a serious blogger it takes a real commitment. Takes nothing to be a commentor. Drop in and out whenever.

    Good luck with all things. I may be in Portland later in the Summer and if so I'll let you know and maybe we can meet at one of the hip new Portland spots that pop up like mushrooms.

    And I've made some very cool connections through the various iterations of e-Ketzel. I'll be taking those with me. Thanks!

    Jay
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  9. You will be missed.

    Best of luck and all that. Looking forward to your return, in what ever form that may be.
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  10. Have enjoyed your take on the job loss thing. This happened to my husband in 1996. We sold out and bought an RV, traveling full time for 8 years before we settled back down in rural Oregon 4 years ago.

    The one who made this possible was Ron Dennison, an insurance agent in Portland, who was able to get us affordable medical insurance until we were eligible for Medicare 2 years ago. Ron's phone no. is 503-236-0542.

    Best luck, A Rose'
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  11. I applaud your doing what feels right for you. Good luck and best wishes...
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  12. sillydoggardenJun 8, 2009 07:05 AM
    You will be missed. But I understand the emotional roller coaster of reinvention. I, too, am trying to reinvent myself after being laid off from my newspaper job. Managing my feelings while facing financial pressures ain't exactly a cakewalk. I hope everything works out for you. I look forward to your return.
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  13. I'd like to hear from you when you rejoin the online community. I have always enjoyed your articles on NPR and on your two different blogs.

    Best wishes for the reinvention!
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  14. Blogs do what all good writing does: they make the reader feel as though she/he knows the writer. Since I feel as though I know you, I also feel the responsibility to applaude and support your positive moves (to wherever.)
    That said, like most of the folks here, I'd be content with just the occasional blog entry from you, just to keep up, y'know? Good luck and write when you get work.
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  15. Well if you guys remained subscribed, so you know when I've popped back, I will drop a note at the first hint of stability...or a reasonable facsimile...
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  16. Hope you'll be back soon with a new adventure. Orchids are a big deal in Singapore!

    (info(at)localecology.org)
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  18. As sad as I am to see you go, I can only wish you the best of luck in your chrysalis.
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  19. ...but I don't know anyone else who goes to Turkey to see tulips, enjoys the local wildflowers anywhere, and has such fabulous thistles and what nots taking advantage of the 2009 Eurasian Flu Garden. i'd rather have a little bit of something that all of nothing. an occasional post is perfectly acceptable.
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  20. Several blogs I've been reading have gone on hiatus the past few months due to life changes.

    I remember a report you (gosh I hope it was you..) did on two couples who had attended Tanglewood together for years. It was very sweet, a slice of a rich friendship - and I think one set of couples were your parents. Boy this is going to be embarrassing if it wasn't - well it was the kind of report you would do anyway.

    So I've listened to you for years before and after your Doyenne of Dirt time. Good luck on your new path(s). Please add me to your list of 'subscribers'.
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  21. Yes, it was my folks. Thank you for remembering.
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  22. There are always stories to tell.
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  23. You are a wise woman. You choice to fall into privacy is a choice I would make. I am earlebaldwin@gmail.com. I would like to know that you are well and comforted from time to time. You gave us a great deal of access to your self over the air waves and I would choose to honor and hold that bit of intamacy with another mote of eternity. Thank you Moxie. By the way, I have a tiny collection of Moxie bottles. The original was cast with raised lettering. It reads,,,
    M O X I E
    Trade Mark
    N E R V E
    F O O D
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  24. let us make that word intimacy
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  25. But, but...I dont understand


    marci
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  26. Really? I'll miss you.
    Well, get out in that garden of yours...
    See you soon I hope.
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  27. I am glad you will opt to come back here at some time when it is right for you. We will be here when you do.
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  28. Can't believe that I just found out about NPR! Just put it up on twitter. How about being garden blogger for the First Lady?
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  29. My very, very best wishes on reinvention. And the next journey.
    Lisa
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  30. Go Ketzel! You'll be missed. I'm still missing you on NPR. Would have traded no end of Magliozzi's for you, dear. We'll be here waiting for you.

    Tina
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  31. Ketzel, I know you will be back. You are gifted. Please come to the APLD conference in Portland. Great Minds think alike!
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  32. Ketzel,
    I agree with the rest, we surely miss you and hope we can tune in again real soon. Are you getting a lot of gardening done?
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  33. Sign me up for your next update. And all the best in your travels.
    John Jacobs
    Tucson AZ
    jmajacobs@earthlink.net
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  34. Cocoon, hibernate, reinvent, journey into unknown realms, and when you return ... however you return ... know that I would love to hear from you. Karen Fisher, Chapel Hill, NC
    karenfisher@nc.rr.com
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  35. Farewell for now, Ketzel. I wish you the absolute best in all your adventures, and I look forward to reading/hearing/seeing you in the future!
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  36. I know a thing or two about this "reinventing one's self online" stuff: I've been cranking out websites since 1996. When I lived in Colorado my sites were all about my profession (I was a geologist and paleontologist for about 18 years). In 2005 I decided I didn't like snow and cold weather any more and moved to Maui. I'm kind of a serious photographer, so it was natural for me to fall for all the PLANTS of the Islands(http://maui-mike.smugmug.com/Plant Life of Maui). I'm also learning about botany and plant taxonomy. In 2008 I started a blog called The Maui Plant Chronicles (http://mauimike6.wordpress.com). I decided not to make it REAL personal, more like semi-technical, but I'm using my own writing style (I'm a professional tech writer these days... talk about reincarnations!). I find the hardest part of blogging is keeping to a regular schedule of posting my stuff. The photography website's easy-peasy: I go off somewhere for a weekend, come back Sunday night with a buncha pix, dump 'em on the server, P'Shop the lot, and write a caption for each one. I don't get a horde of visitors to that website so I can take my time publishing the content, but the blogsite's a different story. People expect new posts every week and they always want something "personal" thrown in the content. I'm not big on being regular and reliable, so when my old website's audience got to be too demanding after about eight years I shut her down and didn't look back. So I know where you're coming from Ketz.

    I remember (yes, I'm a fan) your semi-weekly spot on NPR (Scott Simon referred to you as the "doyenne of dirt"... oy! I apologize on his behalf and others of my gender). So when I was doing some on-line research I pulled up your 2007 posting about the "Pretty Pests of Hawai'i." You were going to do an on-air spot or something. Great, I said, and started digging for it. Next thing I see is a posting about how NPR laid you off! Budget cuts... Ouch. Sorry to see you get the chop. Been there myself: every so often I end up one jump ahead of a pink slip. I usually see it coming first and opt for early retirement. I'm on my third professional reincarnation. Maui's great and so are the neighbor islands. I KNOW a plant-head like you has been here more than a few times. Next time you're on-island, e-mail me (mauimike6@earthlink.net) and I'll buy you a couple of beers and show you some of the places where you can see some native plant species only the dirt geeks like me know about.

    Malama pono, kahini nui!
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  37. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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  38. I have a saying in my world:
    Exploit change or become extinct...

    Go....exploit...change...just take really good notes along the way so we can read about it later!

    Best of luck to you....
    Virginia Leandro
    vleandro@sbcglobal.net [please add to list!]
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  39. We still remember and we will continue to wait. Take your time, do it right, and become reborn!

    --Dave
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  40. Just returned from my own semi-disappearing act in Israel. Visited family & 1978 kibbutz haunts.
    In the process of posting picts on:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosetry845/
    Thought of you & your flora adventures often on my journey, & photographed w/intention to share on "talking plants".
    I do wish you the best, w/gratitude for seeing me through promising transformations.
    jronphoto@gmail.com
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  41. Charlton AllenOct 6, 2009 03:38 PM
    Sorry you left. It has been more than 4 months now. Please come back soon. allenfirm@mindspring.com
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  42. Ketzel,

    Been on my own journey...just stopping by to learn you needed space, too. Hope you and your critters are well. Please keep me in the loop and on the list.

    terristern@gmail.com
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  43. I still wonder: What is she doing? The silence from the other side of the ocean is no good news. Let us know about the new life - without the radio. Johan (jtoverud@hotmail.com)
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  44. so yes .. please .. add me to the list... and when you do come home Little Sheba .. i will have a basket of wild strawberry's waiting for you by the door.
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  45. oh .... abarefootboy at google dot com
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  46. Just want to say "Greetings of the Season" to you, Ketzel. Know that we're still out here and think of you often.
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  47. It's a new decade! Time to chime in, if only for a moment.
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  48. Come on! Let us all know when you are coming back. Although the disappearing act is kind of mysterious and I like it a little..
    -Sylvia
    Union Glashutte Watches
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  49. Hi Ketzel,

    My name is Chris and I'm with Portland Monthly Magazine in Portland, Oregon. I'm trying to fact-check a story on your front yard. What's the best way to reach you to speak? When you can, please email me at
    cbailey@portlandmonthlymag.com

    Thanks Ketzel,
    Chris
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  50. Just this morning, 9 months or so after your last blog entry, I was thinking of you. I wondered what interesting projects you had found and what was going on with them. Add me to any updates: jet2bna at bellsouth. com

    I hope life is treating you well.

    ~JET Thomas
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Why be Anonymous? After all, I've showed you mine.

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