What Does it Mean to ‘Trace Woodgrains’?

I have a menu at the top of this blog titled ‘Blogs I Read’ which lists just that – blogs I read regularly. Occasionally I add one that I have come across and found useful or enlightening. I don’t imagine many of you pay any attention to this; just because I found something useful or enlightening is no reason to think anyone else will, and we all have only so much time to spend reading things online.

Still, I just added a blog titled ‘Tracing Woodgrains’ to my list, and I am going to say a bit about it here, because I found it particularly enlightening. It strikes me as the sanest blog I have come across ever. If you like, you can find it here, for free.

First, as to the question, I think the answer is that it refers to looking carefully at the fine details of a piece of wood, at the grain that runs through it. That is a fair statement of what the articles in the blog do, I would say. And, the set of topics the author writes about is wide and varied. The goings on at Wikipedia, a hiring scandal at the FAA, why he voted for Kamala Harris in the last US election, an essay on a culture of excellence in education, and much more.

As to the author of the blog, I have no idea, no name is provided, and in the About section of the blog one finds this:

“Welcome to Tracing Woodgrains, the chronicle of a former Mormon’s chaotic pursuit of order in a world gone mad.

In my essays, I wander towards whatever happens to catch my interest. Usually, that means a focus on learning and the strength of narratives and deliberate restrictions, reflections on culture war and internet nonsense, stories of institutional corruption and failure, and attempts to present both the beauty and harm of Mormonism to a secular audience.”

Honestly, there is little in that description that would suggest I would have any interest in anything that person wrote. Yet, as I said, it is the most thoughtful and sane writing I have found yet in my travels on the internet, so I do recommend it to you, heartily. I will say just a bit more about one piece on it, titled ‘Kamala Did Not Represent the Center’ in which, among other things, he explains why he voted for Harris last November, and why it pained him to do so. Again, this does not mark him out (I’m not at all sure he is a ‘he’, btw) as someone I would follow avidly. Had I been in the US last November, I would have done what I do in Canada in some elections, voted for a candidate who had no chance to win, as the only way a citizen of a modern democracy has to register their ‘none of the above’ sentiment. However, that post is incredibly thoughtful and wise, so I can disagree with Woodgrains yet respect what he has to say about the election. Indeed, his view of that election is as close to mine as I have seen articulated anywhere.

I hasten to add that every post I have read so far on the blog is equally thoughtful. The writing on this blog sets a standard to which I can only hope to aspire. I add, however, that I am sure I will in the future read posts on this blog with which I disagree rather completely and/or find less than compelling. Such is human nature.