The Little Blog That Could

What a riot this is. The Little Engine That Could, the classic 1930's story, reprinted in 1954 with the above cover and new illustrations, is described in a Wiki:

In the tale, a long train must be pulled over a high mountain. Various larger engines, treated anthropomorphically, are asked to pull the train; for various reasons they refuse. The request is sent to a small engine, who agrees to try. The engine succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating its motto: "I-think-I-can".

To think of hard things and say, "I can't" is sure to mean "Nothing done." To refuse to be daunted and insist on saying, "I think I can," is to make sure of being able to say triumphantly by and by, "I thought I could, I thought I could."

Yes, by and by. Not immediately, but by and by. Which brings me to this, The Dream Antilles, the little blog that could.

Some blogs are big, group, political blogs. They look this this:



They are strong, big, powerful, mechanical, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, capable, brash, industrial, driven. This is what dKos looks like. Robust and headstrong and muscular. If you wanted to receive a box car full of strong, similar opinions in a big hurry, that's where you'd go. There would be a warehouse full of whatever you wanted and it would be delivered with astonishing alacrity.

But over here, here in Literary Blogsylvania, things are much, much smaller. The blog is feminine (even if the bloguero is not a bloguera). And somewhat anonymous and unimportant, unlike the important freight and passenger trains of the story. In fact, the little engine that could didn't even have a name until the 1991 movie version, when it was finally dubbed "Tillie." This blog is like that. It's name is not well known. It tries hard even though it's so much smaller and doesn't get more than a couple dozen hits a day. It savors the rare attention of each of the hits. And it whispers to itself, "I think I can." I think I can say this well. I think I can draw this conclusion. I think I can talk about something you won't find elsewhere. I think I can entertain a new reader or two. And despite that optimistic thinking, this blog is nevertheless privately amazed when it gets to say, "I thought I could, I thought I could." That's why this is the little blog that could. And why I'm happy you're reading this.