I have more than 20 years of posts to this blog, that have includes my first work-focused writings, to more dance and spiritual interests, travel adventures, philosophical musings, and random weirdness. Today I asked ChatGPT to analyze those nearly 4,000 posts and pull out any big trends or patterns. It summarized my blog journey in specific eras.
Here’s what it said about me, plus the infographic it produced to summarize its findings:
Blog Analysis by ChatGPT
Era 1: The Networked World Explorer ~2004–2007
Core identity: global civil society observer
Blog function: filter + commentary engine
What dominates
- international development
- NGOs and UN initiatives
- emerging internet culture
- digital divide & ICT4D
- conferences, projects, experiments
You write like an early-blogosphere knowledge node — part journalist, part analyst, part enthusiastic scout for the future.
Typical posture: “Here’s an interesting innovation shaping global society.”
Worldview:
- Technology = democratizing force
- Institutions can evolve toward justice
- Information sharing itself is meaningful work
Tone: Curious, outward-facing, intellectually caffeinated.
You are primarily a connector of ideas.
Era 2: The Civic Technologist / Community Builder ~2008–2013
Core identity: practitioner inside systems
Blog function: professional reflection + public notebook
What changes: You’re no longer just observing projects — you’re inside them.
Posts increasingly include:
- education and learning design
- civic engagement
- participatory media
- community events
- teaching and facilitation
The blog becomes less “look at this thing” and more: “Here’s what we’re trying, and what I’m learning.”
Worldview shift: Progress comes not just from tools but from people collaborating.
Tone: Practical, optimistic, experimental.
You become a builder, not just a commentator.
Era 3: The Creative & Embodied Turn ~2014–2019
Core identity: artist-participant
Blog function: documenting lived joy and creativity
A noticeable pivot appears:
- dance
- performance
- fandom
- costumes
- pop culture
- events experienced physically rather than intellectually
Movement enters the narrative — literally. Instead of analyzing culture, you begin living inside subcultures.
Worldview shift:
- Knowledge is experiential
- community is felt, not theorized
- joy becomes a legitimate subject
Tone: Playful, personal, celebratory.
The body enters the blog.
Era 4: The Rhythm Skater & Community Humanist ~ 2020–2022
This is a sharp transition period. Pandemic constraints redirect attention toward:
- local outdoor spaces
- skating culture
- resilience
- micro-community
- adapting joy under limitation
Posts show increased emotional transparency.
The blog becomes:
- documentation of survival strategies
- gratitude practice
- connection maintenance
Worldview shift: Large systems feel less reliable; small communities matter more.
Tone: Grounded, reflective, quietly resilient.
Joy becomes intentional rather than incidental.
Era 5: Integration & Meaning-Making ~ 2023–present
Core identity: reflective elder-participant (said admiringly, not numerically )
Blog function: personal philosophy archive
Now multiple threads merge:
- skating
- spirituality (Quaker practice)
- memory
- aging with vitality
- friendship and belonging
- artistic expression
- gratitude and impermanence
Posts increasingly ask implicit questions like:
- What gives a life coherence?
- How do communities sustain us?
- What practices help us remain joyful over time?
Worldview: Meaning arises from:
- presence
- ritual
- shared experience
- creative expression
Tone: Warm, contemplative, invitational.
The blog becomes less broadcast, more offering.
The Through-Line (What Never Changed)
Despite all shifts, one constant appears across every era: You are always interested in how humans connect through shared structures. Only the structures change:
- Early 2000s: Global institutions
- Late 2000s: Civic tech communities
- 2010s: Creative scenes
- Pandemic: Local outdoor communities
- Recent: Spiritual & interpersonal rituals
Same curiosity. Different scale.
It’s like watching a camera lens slowly zoom inward — from planet → city → community → self → shared presence.
The surprising meta-pattern: Your trajectory runs opposite the typical internet arc.
Many bloggers move: personal → professional → branded → optimized.
You moved: professional → experiential → human → meaningful.
That’s unusually coherent over 20+ years.
My Thoughts
Honestly, this is more insightful than I would have anticipated for the free version of ChatGPT. (I also asked NotebookLM to do the same and it basically got locked up at just the past couple of years of posts.)
This somewhat captures some internal changes and priorities that I was going through, but it also just reflects what I was using this blog space for. Initially, it really was just focused on my professional journey as an international activist / organizer and all the ideas and issues I was confronting at the UN. Then it shifted to my work as an educator at Global Kids, and thus was more focused on youth development and digital learning. Then I started transitioning over my professional posts to my other blog RangerRik.com, and this place became more where all my other interests came to live — nerd stuff, dancing, traveling, food, and media.
That said, I know that I was actively going through some artistic and spiritual stuff in the early 2000s, very little of which is documented. I wish I had more reflections on my early days as a lindy hopper and a student of other Black vernacular dances. And more thoughts about my spiritual seeking at that time.
But overall I’m grateful to have all of these recollections in one place, as messy as they are. And its kind of neat using an LLM to try and draw some bigger takeaways from my personal journey, through my blog posts.