IS CHAD HERMANN THE ONLY WRITER IN TOWN?

Mr. I-love-Bruce-Springsteen-go-male-rights!-us-upper-middle-class-men-are-being-cheated-and-I-have-candles-burning-in-my-shrine-to-The-Carbolic-Smoke-Bomb-oops-I-mean-Blog?

Yeah, I read his "Radical Middle" blog at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette site (isn't that what you wanted?). Ooh. It's so rad, it makes me want to eat at the Olive Garden and drink a Coors Light.

But it's IRONIC that it's the same spiel he's been spewing on his own now-defunct blog, and at the "man blog" ... just recycled for an allegedly larger audience. And this was supposed to be the stuff that exhausted him, literally. Literally. Such a dramatic exit for someone who proclaimed , "I'M DONE." I definitely had a case of the vapors when I read that. Oh, whatever would I do? How could I possibly live without another blogger? Must you all just leave me, with no explanation?

What have I become, my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know, goes away in the end ...

(Sorry, Johnny Cash. And Nine Inch Nails.)



The thing is ... you just have to keep coming back after these melodramatic exits. Jesus did it, but the way he did it totally rocked (even if you don't believe, the story is awesome, isn't it?). If you were even remotely close to making that kind of comeback, I'd be like, OK. Cool. But really now.

And Chad's doing this blogging for free? At least I get a schadenfreude fix.

A friend of mine brought up a great point -- Mike Madison started blogging again, but his reasoning seemed genuine. And I was inclined to agree. And then there's Chris Briem -- who is not a blogger, but happens to blog. These are people who really bring something to the cyber-table here.

(Notice I wrote "people," not men.)

OK. Blogging can be what it wants to be. If you want to stroke your ego, though, can you do it in the privacy of your bedroom?

Which does bring up another good point -- P-G -- where are your female columnists? The number of people reading an actual newspaper are dwindling (apparently they need all the ink for the tattoos these days -- and no offense there, because I have one) -- and females far outlive men. My 92-year-old grandmother has been bitching for years. You think throwing her a horoscope and a crossword is gonna shut her up?

OK, Radcliffe. I'll have another incendiary espresso.

(Oh -- and Chad -- this is my Valentine to you. XOXO. Since you like the rebel rousers, and all.)