Dear Diary,
As the author of The Gossips of Rivertown, I've become accustomed to people I don't know stopping me in the street to ask, "Are you Carole?" When I acknowledge that I am, they go on to say that they read my blog and tell me how much they enjoy and appreciate it. It's a very pleasant and gratifying experience. I'm always thrilled to meet people who read Gossips.
This morning something similar but different happened. An older woman--that is, older than I am--stopped me in the parking lot at ShopRite to ask, "Are you the one who runs her mouth about things that happen in Hudson?" My astute perception cautioned me this was not a fan, but I admitted that I was probably the person she had in mind. She then asked, "What do you get out of it?" Somewhat taken aback by the question and wondering what she suspected I might "get out of it," I told her I believed I was doing a community service and thought the three thousand or so people who read Gossips regularly would probably agree. She then said, "I don't care about three thousand people," and accused me of "blocking" someone she referred to as "a party I know." Not clear about what she meant by "blocking" but knowing there is no way to block someone from reading a blog, I said, "I don't do that." She declared, "Yes, you do." Realizing the conversation was degenerating into a schoolyard am not/are too exchange, I said, "No, I don't," and walked away.
It occurred to me, as, mildly shaken by the encounter, I was making my way through the aisles of ShopRite, that the party she accused me of "blocking" might have been flummoxed by the Blogger commenting process, as many have been, or was posting comments completely anonymously and I wasn't publishing them because, as I have repeatedly warned readers, I will not publish completely anonymous comments.
Let me take this opportunity to remind readers once again that if they choose the OpenID option for making a comment, which I thought Google had eliminated, they must sign their comments. I should also remind readers that I reserve the right to reject comments I consider inappropriate or simply snarky."Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined (by Gossips) because Hudson is a metropolis in microcosm.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
This area has more mean old lady cranks than anyplace I've ever been. I don't if they are all over upstate NY, but we have a bunch of them in Hudson / Greenport.
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