On Naming

24 Mar, 2025

I started this blog out of an acute need to try out a different way of being in the world. I want to hone a difficult craft, to watch myself fail and improve, to figure out what the heck I feel about what's going on out there and also in here. This is something I've wanted to do for many years but have never allowed myself. The permission-granting powers of anonymity are a game-changer. It's been liberating to feel I can play around with words and ideas here without becoming so associated with them. In our panopticonish world where everything is logged, stocked, indexed, I needed a place that felt a bit more fleeting and flexible, to explore and make a fool of myself without compunction.

In this spirit of tinkering and revision, the original title of this blog, as well as its formulaic URL, were never intended to stick, but rather hastily conscripted in a burst of desperate action-taking. I've been reflecting on the art of naming, considering what makes the titles of other blogs I admire so delicious, and somewhat clumsily groping around for one to call my own. And while I will continue to believe in - and attempt to put in practice - the magic of mistake making and iterative improvement, I've also realized that the internet is a noisy, chaotic place, and that there is value in projecting some consistency so people know where they are when they come across your corner of it.

More concretely, I want to ensure that people adding this site to their RSS feed don't get tossed overboard when the URL changes.¹ And I hope that having a name that feels more "me" will help keep me motivated to work better and harder, as well as to feel ok about sharing this work-in-progress, and asking others to engage with it.

Therefore, allow me to reintroduce myself: you are reading These Common Hours. Starting next week, this site will be located at thesecommonhours.com

I'm glad you're here.