This blog is taking a break.    

Thanks to each of you for participating in your own way.

I am stepping away after eleven years and 20,994 posts not because I no longer love the writing and thinking and interaction, but because I love them too well, and there are other things I want to do with my time and energy, and I know I cannot do those things right and do this thing, too. 

Be excellent to each other. Peace.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

Let me just say thank you for the effort. In addition to being my go to news source since I first started coming here in 2005, you've provided me a space to vent, learn, be challenged and ultimately grow as a person.

I'm not just whistling Dixie.

I've made several friendships in real life via this blog and I'm a better person for it.

See you at Mosaic!

[Thomas]

What JS said. Thanks for all the effort, Ed. Here's hoping you decide to come back.

And thanks to all the commenters. This blog has been an interesting read.

[Stephen]

Thank you, Ed.

[Fec]

Thank you very much.

[steve]

Thanks. Be well.

[David Hoggard]

Say it ain't so, Cone. But I know it is, and understand, and thank you profusely.

This is the first place I come in the morning and usually the last thing at night. It is a wonderful community that I will greatly miss and those of us who hang out here - either lurking or commenting - will now have to deal with Word Up withdrawal.

This is the town square of Greensboro and it will be hard to relocate our respective soap boxes to the city's less traveled side streets.

As one who kept a blog for many years (thanks to you) and knows of its time-sucking and addictive nature, I will tell you that you will miss it terribly. But you already knew that.

Might be time for me to fire mine back up, because I'll miss this bunch of folks, terribly.

Again, thank you.

[Hugh]

"Be excellent to each other"

Party on!

[Kyle Barger]

Thank you, Ed, and good luck!

[Anthony]

Despite not commenting much here over the past few years, I've continued to stop by regularly. So, I'm sorry to hear this. But I also completely understand. Good luck with whatever you'll be focusing on next, Ed. And thanks!

[Jon Lowder]

Well crap. First Google Reader and now you Ed? Have fun with your new venture(s) and hopefully you'll be able to enjoy the relative peace and quiet.

[polifrog]

Ed, your site has truly been appreciated by me. I thank you for it. Your work will be missed.

Thanks for the fish.

[Kim]

Thanks for doing all the heavy lifting. Good luck to you and your family, you are in our thoughts.

[Tony Wilkins]

"A big ol' puff on the wildwood weed
Next thing you know We's just wandering behind the little animals
All good things gotta come to an end
And it's the same with the wildwood weed

One day this feller from Washington come by
And he spied us and he turned white as a sheet
And he dug and he burned And he burned and he dug
And he killed all our cute little weeds
Then he drove away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds

Y'all come back now, ya hear"

Jim Stafford, 1974

Hats off to you, Ed Cone, and to all the seeds you've planted over the last twelve years.

[David Boyd]

Shit, man. I was sure you were gonna outlast Facebook.

[Jane T. Mitchell]

While not a frequent commenter, I have been a faithful reader and quoter of Ed Cone. I have encouraged others to read your blog because it, more than any other source, has kept me informed about goings-on in Greensboro. That I shall miss you goes without saying, but I join the more vociferous of your followers in wishing you all the best in whatever undertakings you pursue. Chapeau bas, Ed.

[David Wharton]

You and your blog have made Greensboro a better and more interesting place. Warmest thanks for everything; I've learned a lot here. Best of luck in future.

[Mick]

Nowhere to lurk now. Good luck Ed and thanks.

[triadwatch]

thanks ed for helping me establish my first blog in protest petition for greensboro that has blossomed into triadwatch. I have cut back a lot in regards to my posting on triadwatch and can attest to slowing down a little bit with blogging. It has been a pleasure over the years to have banter back and forth with plenty of us commentors on this site. Enjoyed the post and comments by all.

[Margaret Moffett Banks]

Perhaps we could get Nerd Up repeats in the interim.

[Roch]

Thank you, Ed. For all you've done. Can I have your room?

[sean coon]

congrats! while i'll miss the forum—from the arguments to the education—i know how nice it is to drop a blog filled daily life and refocus on other pursuits. just be sure to give us all an update every now and then!

[Joe Guarino]

Congratulations on a long, provocative run, Ed. Thanks for all the links over the years, and for being an important source of local news.

Best wishes...

[Collards]

Who is going to post the IFYI?

Best Wishes Ed.

[Triadwatch]

Triadwatch can step up to the plate on the ifyi

[michele]

Thank you for everything, Ed. Much love to you (and all my blog family here, as well.) God bless you as you do the next thing. :)

[Fred Gregory]

This did not come as a shock and I understand your decision. "Word Up" exposed me to blogging and commenting. We have had some spirited exchanges and hardly ever agreed on much except Tar Heel sports and non political humor

Well it's only a break. See you back eventually

Esse Quam Videri

[Lex]

Thanks, Ed ... for putting Greensboro on the Web 2.0 map, for being a fine source of local news, for challenging our assumptions and for your obvious love for this community.

And for being an excellent friend, a practice I hope long outlives the blog whether you ever return to it or not.

[Lex]

Thanks, also, to all of you above, the community I think of as the "people who live in Ed's comments box," many of whom I've met in real life and, like Jeff Sykes said above, have been better for it.

[JB]

Thanks, Ed.

[Ged]

Thanks Ed, I've enjoyed coming here and participating in the lively discussions. Enjoy life and try and take it easy if you can!

[Nancy Vaughan]

Ed, I will miss your wit and wisdom.

[designation]

Many thanks, Ed.

Will miss it much...

[Ishmael]

Who is going to stir the soup for us now? Thanks for a more informative pastime - it was either you or Reddit. No cat pictures on your blog, though.
I tip my hat to you and hope you return someday because you will be missed. Good luck.
Until then I've got to find another blog to bone up on local news. Any suggestions?

[Ed Cone]

Thanks for all the kind words, and thanks also for the emails and FB messages (and all the back-channel communications over the years).

To answer one query, this was not a hasty decision. I have taken a week off here and there for vacations, but otherwise kept at this steadily for a long-ass time.

[Steve Harrison]

I...don't know what to say. I'm afraid if I say good things, of which there are many, it might encourage you to get out and stay out while you're on top. I don't even want to contemplate that, so I'll just say, "I'll see you downtown, pal."

[prell]

"Who is going to stir the soup for us now?"

The torch has been passed to bubbanear.blogspot.com

"Until then I've got to find another blog to bone up on local news. Any suggestions?"

greensboroguardian.com

[RBM]

Thanks for the cyberpast and good luck and be well in the future.

[Dave Dobson]

It's been a real pleasure, Ed. Thanks for everything.

[TBill Yaner]

Your's has become THE model to me of how to manage a blog with style and wisdom and grace. I've not even seen a close second. Put it in a time capsule: this is how it was done best.

Cheers!

[Joe Killian]

Been reading this blog since I was in college.

Will miss it.

But sometimes you've just got to take a break. Sometimes you've got to do something else entirely.

Be sure to let us know what the next thing is.

[Dan]

Thank you very much!

[Bill Bush]

Thanks, Ed. You'll always be in my bookmarks.

[Andrew Brod]

I presume this means we'll be seeing more of you at Temple?

[Spag]

Aw, you'll be back soon Ed because you will miss me too much. I guess more free time for you equals more free time for me. Your blog has been as "useful" to me as it has to you albeit for different reasons.

I am surprised that there isn't any "just think how much you're going to be missing. You don't have Ed to kick around any more". At least for me and a few others. Who knows, the fan club may feel the same way because your blog has been the central front in the War on Spag. Where shall they go now?

Regardless, enjoy the time. Be like the dog you are always walking.

Kudos to Wilkins for trotting out the obscure Jim Stafford song. I first heard that when I was about five and never forgot it. Of course back then I didn't know it was about weed.

[Andrew Brod]

Whew! I was wondering how we could make this about Spag.

[ew]

Thanks.

[Dave Ribar]

Thanks Ed. I hope that it's only a break.

[Mike Barber]

All the effort you've put in to make our Community a better place through your writing is appreciated. I can say with certainty that the ideas shared here have cause a few directional changes among our local leaders. I hope to see you soon!

[Doug Clark]

I'll miss it. Thanks for what you've done. Best wishes, Ed.

[G/]

"To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace."

ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Ed- I reckon there has been a time (multiple times for many) for
things mentioned in this too popular ecclesiates reading above
during the past 11 years.

Now, it is a time for APPRECIATION & gratitude to you
from me (and others as the comments above indicate) for
creating a destination and a thoughtful one at that.

Glad, on a selfish note, that you wrote "..am stepping away" and not
ending.

Thanks and all the best with the other things you haven chosen to devote your time and energy to, at least for now.

All my best.

G/