Remember me? (Former DU Admin checking in)

[yardwork]

58. Hi David.

It's good to see your handle and hear your thoughts here again. I hope you will drop by more often.

Looking back, it's clear that DU was founded just as the U.S. entered a period of crisis, a crisis that has grown. It's not surprising that the symptoms of our wounded nation are reflected on these boards. I'm sorry that you were wounded, too.

I'm glad to hear that you survived cancer, your kids and marriage are doing well, and that you have some diagnoses that have been helpful.

I guess a lot of us have changed over the last 25 years. I'm recently retired from a career I had to scramble to build when I found out I was gay at the age of 45. I reinvented most of my life then, talked about it on DU, and I've done some more reinventing since then.

Reinvention is good, especially when you can maintain loving relationships with the people who matter. I wish you the best of luck as you reinvent your career again. I don't have a clue what job might be right for you but I can offer some observations of your strengths. I hope this isn't too intrusive.

I think you are especially skilled and strong at....

1. Building an online platform that is still state of the art as a user friendly format. The key strength here is user friendly. Lots of people can built platforms. DU's format is uniquely good. I suspect your artistic gifts play a role here, and could probably be applied in other surprising areas. (Like the crypto GIFs. I would not have expected that! What else needs that kind of spatial, artistic vision?)

2. Willingness to reconsider your point of view and create enough space and silence to think through alternatives, even with the cacophony of a public political board demanding your minute to minute attention. I haven't forgotten the arc that played out over several years, which began with some regrettable events but ended with your apology and efforts to set things right. It takes a person of strong character to do that.

3. Sense of humor. I miss the DU mailbag and your hilarious deadpan responses.

4. Ability to connect on a personal level with thousands of anonymous strangers, despite not having a lot in common with many of us. Bridging those divides takes special skills that you have in abundance.

Anyway... long post. I hope you find an awesome job soon.

Do you still have a chihuahua? I have a chihuahua now. I never thought I'd have a chihuahua.