This post was submitted by matt

It’s been close to a year since my first at-bat for TNG. In November of last year, I penned a piece on gayborhoods. As a then-student of urban planning, I thought it would be a nice, easy way to ease into this new role of mine as a gay columnist. Boy was I wrong. I suppose the pitcher read me like a book, because I spawned an anti-column, as it were. One of TNG’s readers, Ed Jackson, wrote a thoughtful and coherent post attacking my first column as myopic and typical of the gay community.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe the controversy that the column generated, and I wondered whether I should continue. But continue I did. And Ed and I became friends. As it turned out, he lived only a few blocks away. And every once in a while – when we weren’t slaving over keyboards for TNG – we met for coffee to talk about gay topics.

When Michael first invited me to write for TNG, I was happy yet apprehensive. I’d never written about gay topics. That didn’t matter to Michael. It didn’t matter that I never have felt particularly “gay.” It only mattered that I was a gay man who was unafraid of a keyboard and an internet connection.

I didn’t know then, and I don’t know today exactly what I write that will catalyze debate. As with my first column, though, it was always the ones that I thought were tame and dull that generated the most commentary. The column of mine that generated the most comments was another seemingly innocuous set of paragraphs in which I wondered why people were upset about male circumcision. They were marching about Washington calling for a blanket ban on the practice. And after I penned Dispatches, they were marching about in TNG’s comment threads.

Several times, I told my story. I recounted being forced out of the Boy Scouts. I thought back on my own coming out experiences a few times. I told of my roommate horror story, of coming out to my parents.

I also branched out into social commentary. I criticized conservatives for attacking JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, after she named hero Albus Dumbledore a closeted gay man. I wondered what the big deal was with Dr. Manhattan’s not-so-big penis in the blockbuster movie “Watchmen.”

From religion to policy to the Metro, my columns have run the gamut. I think I’ve touched on every topic except baseball, a sport referenced in my column’s name. But it doesn’t look like America’s pastime is going to make it into my portfolio anytime soon.

For Dispatches, it’s the seventh-inning stretch. I’m taking a break from this column. I don’t yet know how long this hiatus will last. In fact, it might be permanent. I’ve decided to focus my limited time on writing more in my subject area – planning. I’m also devoting increasing amounts of time to my other column here at TNG, Newsprints.

Of late, my columns here at TNG have drawn little commentary, and I often wonder whether my efforts fall on blind eyes. I’ve always found Dispatches a challenge. And I’ve always loved challenges. In my last column, I wrote a piece entirely without the letter “E.” I really enjoyed doing that, and I had hoped to give my readers a few laughs. Alas, the conundrum of writing for free is that I don’t get to see the sales figures. I never know whether my readers like what they see – at least not without comments.

I’ve always blogged with the intention to generate discussion. I don’t pontificate because I know that I know very little. I’m interested in what you think. I regard it as the highest compliment when twenty people disagree with me and with each other over what I write. Of course, I like agreement too. It feels so good when a stranger comes to my defense in a comment thread. But whether consternation or accord, comments mean that people are listening.

In recent weeks, my writings at the planning blog Greater Greater Washington have generated much discussion. These posts have made me feel more fulfilled, but have left me with less free time than ever. And so it is with regret that I enter into the dugout. Now it is time for me to rethink my place at TNG and in the blogosphere. For you, it’s time to get some popcorn and cracker jacks. And beer, because they usually stop selling it during the seventh-inning stretch.

But I can’t leave without saying thanks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for commiserating. Thanks for cheering. Thanks for being there.

Zack is known for telling us writers that we make TNG great. But really it’s you readers who make TNG great. Without you, we’d just be a bunch of blowhards on soapboxes. So it’s my turn to say thanks to you. Keep reading the work of my fellows. And please, please keep faith in the movement.

Farewell. Godspeed.

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