[footfootfoot]

I was trying to explain the cellar to my GF last night. In the process I realized how it means so much to so many different people and how it fostered interactions that have improved so many of our lives and increased people's knowledge and awareness about an enormous range of subjects, lifestyles, ideologies. Sometimes it was simply a respite from the irritations of daily life and other times it was a shoulder to cry on or people to share a joke with.

The world, not just the US, is facing a viral pandemic as well as a pandemic of extremism in its many forms. There is tremendous uncertainty in the world now and it is affecting everyone's mood and mental health. THIS is exactly when the cellar is needed most. And it is also what is behind a lot of the ill feelings.

I see your point about the glory years of the cellar, I'm not sure what to add to that, or what Limey said, but I'm curious about WHY things dropped off around 2012. I don't have the analytics to view, but I suspect that they would tell a lot.

But you don't have an obligation to us, nor should you feel that you do. Maybe we're like the guests in Buñuel's "Exterminating Angel" who are reluctant and then unable to leave the dinner party when it is over.

Some have suggested the idea of selling the cellar, sure you could do that but it wouldn't be the cellar without your guidance. I've often been blown away by your ability to make decisions based on what you think is best for the cellar even when it seems like it isn't what you, personally, would prefer. I wouldn't be able to be that professionally detached.

I have to get to work, I want to write more about this later because there is a lot to say. Hopefully I'm not just being a windbag but I'll be happy to fuck right off if I am.