Calling It Quits
Anyone who has checked my blog in the past few weeks will have noticed the lack of recent posts. I've been very busy at work and at home. As much as I would like to blame my lack of posting on my schedule, I realize this is just an excuse. Other bloggers have the exact same demanding job as I do, as well as greater family responsibilities, yet they find the time to post. If I am honest with myself, I realize that I am simply not finding time to post.One of my problems is that I have struggled over the past month to come up with topics on which to post. The public defender/criminal law blogosphere is full of interesting niches, all of which I consider to be amply covered by excellent bloggers. Some post primarily about developments in criminal law in general or about a specific area of the law. Others act as editors, providing us with interesting public defender and criminal law stories from around the country, along with their considerable insights on them. Still others provide fascinating war stories from their personal lives and from their work.
It is in this last area that I hoped to find my place. However, as I sat down in front of my computer, I realized that I was unwilling to share my personal life with complete strangers. This didn't bother me because I thought that my job as a public defender would provide me with plenty of interesting stories to share on the blog. It did. Being a public defender provides one with a few heart-warming and amusing stories and many compelling, heart-breaking stories. The problem is confidentiality.
The confidentiality paradox is this: While a story that provides few details protects a client's confidentiality, it rarely is interesting to its reader. While a story that provides a lot of detail is interesting to its reader, it does not adequately protect confidentiality.
I still have great stories and I get more everyday. However, I am unable to share them with you, even from behind the cloak of anonymity. Some bloggers have been able strike that balance between protecting client confidentiality and providing interesting content. I respect the bloggers who are able to do this, but I can not.
The truth is, what I have learned over the past couple months is that I enjoy reading public defender blogs far more than I enjoy trying to write one. I enjoy being a public defender much more than I enjoy writing about it.
So that's it. I can not say for certain that I won't try this again in the future, but this will be my last post for a while. I leave with an even greater admiration for the public defender/criminal law blog community than I had when I began. I want to thank all of you for welcoming me into your community so readily. It has been a pleasure receiving your e-mails and comments, your insights and encouragement. I still plan to continue to visit all of your blogs which inspired me to take a stab at blogging in the first place.
Thank you for reading by blog.
-Mike
posted by Public Defense @ 2/03/2006
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