Is It Time to Rename the Blog?

In 2008, when I set up this blog, I was following Cindy Fey's blog called 'We All Fall Down.' [Actually, I still follow it and enjoy it: We All Fall Down.]  I liked the way the blog title referenced a childhood game and that inspired my choice of 'Tiddlywinks and Pick-up Sticks.'

I liked the drive, the control or lack thereof, the joy and the muddled confusion suggested by those games.

Most of Cindy Fey's entries reflect the pleasures of family life. But her title is clearly allusive enough to encompass the difficulties of life as well. As she does.

Sometimes I think 'Tiddlywinks and Pick-up Sticks' sounds too playful for the more serious stuff.  Like last year when I was covering the tornado in Joplin and then the recovery efforts that followed; I wondered if I needed a more serious sounding name. But maybe not.

Maybe not.

I think we are about to enter into some pretty heavy going. So if you come here (if I or someone sends you here) to read about cancer, say, or depression or the loss of those dear to us, remember that pick-up sticks present a pile of stuff you have to pick through and sort out and deal with, stick by stick by stick.

And there will always be light and playful moments -- not to mention some flubs and black humor moments that I hope will leave you laughing.

So, no, I think I'll stay with the name I chose in '08, when I imagined I'd only be sharing child's play -- even if that was a bit off the mark.