10 Years of SW Oregon Architect

I just realized it’s been ten years since I started blogging. Time flies, but those ten years have been full in part because of what has become a satisfying personal hobby. I’ve reliably published pieces at a rate averaging just more than one per week. All told, I’ve committed more than 540,000 words to online bits and bytes across 674 posts.(1) My Blogger stats tell me SW Oregon Architect has received 494,000 unique pageviews since February 2008—approximately 4,100 per month. Not spectacular, but a lot more than I ever imagined would be the case when I began. 

I had no idea being a blogger would become such a large part of my identity. In some ways, SW Oregon Architect is a personal journal; in other respects, it is more like a newsfeed for readers interested in local goings-on in the Eugene-Springfield, Oregon architecture and building community. I do find writing on topics of interest to me enjoyable and satisfying. It’s fun. It’s also gratifying when people comment on a post or say something nice about what I’ve written. 

Bloggers tend to be a self-absorbed bunch, but then the inherent nature of many blogs is to be narcissistic to a degree. “Look at me,” they all say. On the other hand, bloggers also risk getting it wrong or embarrassing themselves. Vulnerability is the toll paid when you put yourself out there, online. I always tend toward being circumspect and guarded in the way I express myself, so I chose the following ten posts—one marking each of SW Oregon Architect’s ten years—precisely because they reveal something about who I am and how I see the world. I invite you to read them if you didn’t have an opportunity to do so when they first appeared: 

2017 – The Fine Grain of Cultural Diversity 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-fine-grain-of-cultural-diversity.html

2016 – Architecture is Awesome #11: Sense of Place
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2016/03/architecture-is-awesome-11-sense-of.html

2015 – The Future of Architectural Craft 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-future-of-architectural-craft.html

2014 – The Perils of Building Cheaply 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-perils-of-building-cheaply.html

2013 – The Oregon Experiment 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-oregon-experiment.html

2012 – Awe, Wonder, and Curiosity 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2012/08/awe-wonder-and-curiosity.html

2011 – Challenging the Cult of Speed 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2011/01/challenging-cult-of-speed.html

2010 – Influences: Christopher Alexander & Peter Eisenman 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2010/05/influences-christopher-alexander-peter.html

2009 – Influences: Frank Lloyd Wright 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2009/03/influences-frank-lloyd-wright.html

2008 – Eugene, Genius Loci, and the Butterfly Effect 
http://sworegonarchitect.blogspot.com/2008/05/eugene-genius-loci-and-butterfly-effect.html 

Looking back, I’m sometimes surprised by how much my writing style and views have remained consistent. I like to think I can evolve and improve. The cool thing about blogging is that it’s something I can look forward to doing for many, many years to come. I don’t imagine I’ll ever lose my enthusiasm for maintaining SW Oregon Architect. 

Ten years from now, I expect the world will be much different. It’ll be interesting to see if my blog and I are different too. 


(1)   By way of comparison, the King James Version of the Bible has a word count of 783,137 words; the entire Harry Potter book series contains 1,084,170 words. It’s crazy to think I’ve written so much.