The Bounder of Adventure Mission Statement (shudder)

I don't like the idea of "mission statements" but I didn't know what else to call this post.

I got an email from Damian Brooks today alerting me to a post he'd written about Bounder, including comments and advice about how to proceed. Thanks for the email and the great writeup on your blog, Damian. I agree with basically everything you said in your post, and everything that was added to the comments for that post (up until the time of this writing). I'd like to take this opportunity to give my perspective, and my reasons for creating Bounder.

I've been reading blogs posted by other people since 2001. My original introduction to weblogs was a reference to Andrew Sullivan's blog in a National Post article by Mark Steyn. Before that I'd heard of blogs but never bothered to look at them. I was amazed by what I read, by the links to so much great writing, and most of all by the blogroll of like-minded people. Within days I had URLs to dozens of American blogs, many of which I still read regularly to this day.

My introduction to Canadian blogging was very scatter-shot, and it took me years - literally - to find a collection of bloggers from Canada that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the American stuff. It occurred to me that while there are dozens of linking blogs on the web, most of them are drawn to American sites just by the sheer volume of writing going on in that country. Recently I deduced that Canada needed a linking site, a nexus of Canadian blogging, an easy means of locating and drawing attention to the great writing that Canadians had to offer.

Bounder of Adventure is a tribute to Canada's contribution to the blogosphere. I am not a hardcore nationalist by nature. I am a huge fan of the United States, and on my commentary blog Weather Report I fully intend to link to American sites (and sites from around the world) on a regular basis.

Writing for Bounder has been a great experience for me. I can see that it's going to be a lot of work, but I think the potential rewards are worth it.

If the day comes that I feel like Bounder has become irrelevant, or if I just can't take three to five hours a day of reading and posting, then I'll hang up my hat. I'm having way too much fun for that to be any time soon.

Enjoy Bounder of Adventure, follow the links that interest you, and drop me a line now and then. Thanks for reading.