Brace yourselves, Gentle Readers: this post may be answering a question nobody is asking. The question is: what is happening to this blog? If you are regular readers (bless you, I don't deserve you) you may have been asking this for some time. Herewith, I attempt to answer... and I ask some questions of you, in turn. As I've mentioned on occasion, I'm working on a Ph.D.; somewhat to my own surprise, the longer this degree goes on, the greater the amount of my time it seems to absorb. Less surprisingly, the longer it goes on, the more impecunious I become... and the larger the realities of job-hunting loom on my horizon, restraining my natural impulses towards the purchase of opera tickets. So much for the recent past of this blog; now for its immediate future. Being temporarily without funding, I have been forced to leave NYC for the coming academic year. I hope this is only a temporary exile; justified though I feel my complaining about the Met's excessively conservative programming to be, it's not the only show in town, and I will miss the city's rich operatic offerings, from the site-specific productions of new and rare works at Gotham Chamber Opera, to the intimate and creative work of Amore Opera, to the Bronx Opera in my own borough... and beyond. So, what will I be doing with this space? This, Gentle Readers, is where I ask for your input on my ideas.
Ideas:
1) I will be endeavoring to coax my Musicologist Roommate into further guest-blogging here, being Opera Obsession's eyes and ears in the city.
2) Having been visited with an uprush of affection while unpacking my opera CD collection, I'm thinking of blogging on these recordings, and what makes them a valued part of my library. I realize this may sound narcissistic, but one of the things that attracted me to reading (and writing) opera blogs in the first place was the space they afford for the exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences among opera-lovers. And I think this sort of project could start interesting exchanges. I hope it may.
3) Pursuant to the exchange of ideas (and feelings and experiences,) a question for you, Gentle Readers: what would you like to see more of here? I've moved away from easily accessible live performance (alas.) But what would you enjoy reading? What do you think this blog can best contribute? More posts on history? More reading list posts? More recording reviews? Other?
4) A final observation: erratic as my posting schedule here may be, I don't want to just let this blog die off, quietly or otherwise. It's been a valued place for the airing and sharing of opera obsessions, and I'd like it to remain active, however constrained it may be by my schedule and budget.