When I first created a webpage, back in the 1990s, the World Wide Web was a bright, shiny, new thing and only geeks and nerds were creating content. I started Wrenaissance because I wanted to publicize the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Habitat Program and encourage other people to turn their yards into wildlife-friendly places. There were a small group of other website owners doing the same or similar, and we were an enthusiastic albeit chaotic, unorganized bunch. No one had any thought that what we were creating on the web could be a money-making operation.
That lasted no time. Webpage creation software like Microsoft’s Front Page opened up content creation to more people, the big players started to have their own sites (including NWF), and wild web growth ensued. Webpages became more sophisticated and technically complex to create, eventually reaching a point where you needed programming skills to create a webpage. I moved away from hand-coding HTML to using various software packages. Along came blogs, and Blogger, and WordPress. A new nature blog community formed and I was an enthusiastic participant.
But my life had its own trajectory. I took on ever more responsible positions at work, and two things happened. First, web content creation moved out of my job description and into someone else’s, making anything I did on the web solely a hobby. Second, I had less time for any hobbies. So it all became hit or miss for me for close to two decades. I started and stopped blogging multiple times, reluctant to completely let it go, but unable to give it the time or attention needed for it to be successful.
The web moved on as well, becoming the behemoth of content, presence, attention, and dollars that it is today. I’m retired and once more have time, but my interests have moved on. Given what wealth of information exists about nature on the web today, it’s hard to feel that I’m making a contribution here.
So this time, it’s good-bye for real. I won’t delete this content, but I may let the URL revert to wrenaissance.wordpress.com. Earlier content will remain in the Internet Archive if anyone cares to excavate it.
I’m moving on to exploring my creative writing and philosophical/theological thoughts. (I knew that BA in Religion would come in handy one fine day.) If that interests you, you can follow me over on Substack. If not, I understand – it was great, and great fun while it lasted.
