Mutinous End Times

Posted on by

Dear Sepia Mutiny readers, commenters, and friends,

After much deliberation we are going to send Sepia Mutiny on to retirement and cease all new posts after April 1st, 2012, almost 8 years since we first started (August of 2004).

This decision will likely not come as a shock to some of you and may even be somewhat expected by others.  For our more recent readers I apologize that you discovered us only as this party was winding down.  Although we all still love our work on SM, the blogosphere has evolved quite a bit since we first started and for a variety of reasons SM has not been able to keep up in recent years so as to remain a cutting edge product both from a content and technological standpoint.  Most of the conversation that once took place daily on blogs now takes place on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  To try and fight that trend is a losing proposition.  Almost all prominent blogs are now corporatized with actual budgets, so continuing to play in that shrinking sandbox doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  I don’t think any of us who have poured so much sweat and so many sleepless nights writing about issues we are passionate about or just fascinated by are happy with simply coasting by on past glory.

All of us have also gotten older since we started.  Some got married, some had kids, and all of us have super demanding day jobs (watch 60 Minutes this Sunday if you want to know why I haven’t been blogging much for the last two years).  I have loved reading emails from people who think all of us do this full time.  We wish!

I also truly feel that the mission of Sepia Mutiny is complete, especially for what I envisioned SM would be all about (other bloggers can share their view).  Back in 2004 there was very little brown representation in the media and very little “voice” representing us.  There was not a single loud speaker for the South Asian American community. Now there is quite a bit more and brown is everywhere.  There seems much less need for a “Mutiny” given our strides.  We were even invited to blog at the 2008 Democratic National Convention which was hard to imagine in 2004.  That is not to say we are anywhere near where we’d like to be, but a Mutiny should naturally give way to a more organized movement of some kind.  I believe SM did its job in sowing the seeds for that next chapter, whatever forms it now takes.

Over the next two weeks our writers will be continuing to post new content but will also be sharing some fond memories, some farewells, and letting you know where you can continue to follow their work after SM.  We’d also like you to share your memories of SM if you feel so inclined. Some of you even found your husband/wife or significant other through the comments section of our past posts!  Others found great friends that translated to the offline world.  We’d like to hear from anyone that wants to share.

Thanks, and see you in the real world…or in what comes next.   A mutiny gives way for others to continue the movement.

110 thoughts on “Mutinous End Times”

  1. Scott Pelley of 60 minutes will visit Abhi’s place of work. Abhi: Sorry to spill the beans, but curious minds wanted to know!!

  2. Sad to hear about the SM announcement. Is the mutiny going to be archived? Can we still all get the pleasure of catching up, and reliving old memories?

  4. I think the whole think started to unravel when Abhi banned “rob”–too much ideological conformity stifled the comments section.

    • Nah, it’s a toss-up between Manish leaving and that weird coverup of non-registered commenters.

  5. What will happen to the site once the blogs cease? Will all of this be kept/retained as a living archive, so to speak? This would definitely be a great resource for everyone in the future as reference and as a “capsule” so to speak, of what was going on in the South Asian American community (which the East/Southeast Asian Americans can behoove themselves to learn more about this). Hats off to all of you. What a day.

  6. I read Abhi’s post with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Been lurking since 2004 with the odd comment here and there. SM was my lifeline to all things Desi when I lived in the US, when I left for 5 years and stayed my lifeline to all things Desi when I came back. I loved the blog and happily sent funds when you asked for it. Will miss you dearly. Thank you for blog and thank you for all the work you did down there in that bunker. I hope the archived blog will remain online. You now that you’ll have readers waiting for you if you decide to resurrect SM. Live long and prosper and may the force be with you.

  8. Damn, getting old sucks. A Desi parenting blog would be pretty cool for all the growing middle-aged folk. i’d like to see more desi mommy and daddy blogs.

  10. Yup – I know exactly how you guys feel. But you’re right – its a losing proposition unless people are willing to invest a lot of time into publishing and writing.

    On the other hand, you may want to consider setting up a FB fan page and letting people congregate there to discuss, while also linking out and posting content occasionally. Apols if someone had already suggested it above.

    Anyway – lots of love and commiserations and solidarity from all the way in London.

  11. Wow. I guess the fact that I am seeing this today and not when it came out reflects the reality that’s pushing this, but still. A sad day. I made more online-to-real friend conversions from this blog then anywhere else, and it helped me connect with other desis-diasporites in a way that nothing else in my strangely low-on-desi education and careers could. Thanks for the good times, my friends.

  13. still suspicious of the date 🙂 but all things end (well, except for my ‘gene expression’ blog). at least i beat most of the ‘original’ contributors when it comes to replicating in terms of time-to. fwiw, when i’m not busy with grad school or baby i sometimes contribute to a new website, brown pundits.

  14. Thanks for all the wonderful posts. I met some of you in the Denver meetup, that was great. Bunker monkeys (Kunjan..) offered me a job as well 😀 The blog about Wilbur Sargunaraj was epic (His songs are extremely famous in some of the house parties) Will miss this blog & the folks. Yeah, what happened to the crazy commentator Prema & his/her avatars? 😀

  15. SM has been an important blog, a great source of information, entertainment and intellectual stimulation for desis of (not exclusively, though) my vintage or thereabouts. Over several years of lurking and occasionally commenting, I learnt a great deal about engaging intellectually with opinions that often differed from my own, and for that I’m grateful. Best of luck to all mutineers for the future, and may we meet again at a different platform. Shabash! Good job!

  16. Thanks for such an engaging site. Maybe another group will resuscitate it. Wouldn’t mind ads here.

  17. Pingback: Sepia Mutiny (2004-2012) « Kafila

  18. Even though I’ve rarely read SM in the past few years, I am sad to learn it’ll be shutting down. I was an avid reader of this website back in my college days when I used to live in the united states. I remember how thrilled I was to discover Sepia Muntiny back in ’04, when blogging was cool and everybody who was anybody was doing it.

    I’m not ashamed to say this, but I took inspiration from SM for own blog many a times.

    I am truly sad to hear of this news. However, I do understand. Blogging changed once Facebook and Twitter caught on. And it was because of it, I gave up on blogging a couple of years ago myself.

    As far as I’m concerned, blogging as a phenomenon on the internet will formally come to an end on April 1, 2012.

    Fare thee well Sepia Mutiny, Fare thee well.

    • i pondered over your question and came up with the following:

      It is because reading and interacting with posts and comments on SM caused one to grow and age in terms of being an American Desi. Otherwise you would remain not any older. Suppose you have certain mind set and after one year had no other emotional and intellectual exposure to add on, then you are as young as before in your inner self. Without the intelligent engagement and community feeling fostered by SM some of us could have stayed pitiably young and green.

      I am still hoping Yo Dad or someone else will keep running the blog.

      • Manmath: Thanks by honoring me and suggesting that may be – an aged Hippy, who came to this country in mid sixties just to get Master’s degree – I could continue running this blog. Over last 45 years in this country that we call United States of America, interaction with others and occasional introspection has given me immense pleasure and helped me to understand better myself. As the wise philosopher Socrates has said: “Know Thyself”. Therein lies the seed of happiness. Wish you all the best in life, and who knows some day, somewhere, along this never ending journey of ours, we may help each other out. Time does not fly. It is steady. It is us who are here momentarily, and vanish into oblivion, after playing our little part.

        • Thank you Abhi’s Dad. I am of your age group. I found you gracious on this blog all the time. God bless us all.

  20. as an indian immigrant (FOB) , this site helped me understand a fair bit about ABDs and their life growing up. I am printing out the key comments from the important posts so that i can hand them out to the offspring as they grow up. and when the daughter turns out to be a disobedient teenage brat i am sending her to anna who can talk some sense into her (hopefully) about cherishing your father.

  21. Pingback: Sepia Mutiny ends « Über Desi

  22. This is so sad! I have been reading SM since high school and learned a lot on here. SM gave me pride for my culture and offered so much information about South Asian American issues that I did not have access to while growing up in Atl. I was raised in a predominantly African American community and always felt a need to reach out and find ways to keep up with all things South Asian. Sepia Mutiny was a gem I discovered that fed that hunger. I am now reaching the end of my college career and moving on to a professional life. I hope to offer as much to our community as all of you Mutineers have given us readers.

    Thanks for everything you have posted! Please keep the site archived so we can go back and explore the plethora of great material you have produced over the years.

    • I think if we think it is a prank, we will be in for a surprise when we find out that it is not a prank. Anyway Ultrabrown closed first, then Pickled Politics in U.K. I see the trend.

  25. Sad to see SM go. I always felt very connected to the desi communicty via SM. sad 🙁

  26. Please don’t pull the plug! Pass it on to the next generation, but don’t end it all just yet! I’m sure you can find some people who would love to take over the project.

  28. I’ve been a regular reader since 2005. Even when there weren’t any new posts, I logged on to see what was on the newstab. Slightly younger than YoDad, but older than many of the bloggers, and a child of the the wave of people who immigrated from India in the 1960’s, I had hoped that SM would provide a community for my children who are a kind of ABCD twice removed. It’s been a fun time. I always felt like I was part of the in-crowd reading and interacting with the bloggers and commentators here. It’s with a heavy heart, that I say good bye to this community, but realizing that something bigger and better will take it’s place.

    Taz, I’ve enjoyed your posts on music and pop culture. Do you have any other place where you post this kind of information? PhillyGrl, and Lakshmi Gandhi, your posts were always wonderful. I hope you will continue to write and that we will know how to find you. To Amardeep Singh, I miss you here, but love reading whenever you post on electrostani.

    Abhi, my kids were so thrilled when we saw you on the NASA video at KSC last summer. I promised them that someday they would get to meet you. I hope we can make that come true.

    I was genuinely and sincerely looking forward to a meet up at DNC 2012. If any of you are going, please get in touch with me.

    Vinod, Anna, Abhi

  30. Thank you, SM, for everything. I have greatly enjoyed reading this blog over the years, and wish all of you well on your paths.

  31. I’ve been a long time lurker on SM and I’m really sorry to see you guys go. You’ve all been amazing bloggers and the combination of pop culture, lifestyle, current affairs, philosophical discussions, et cetera gave me a much better sense of being South Asian than growing up within a 15 min drive of Pioneer Blvd ever did. I wouldn’t have heard of all the folks running for political office or been able to articulate the pressure of choosing a career field outside of medicine/engineering/law or been relieved to see that the anxieties associated with a hyphenated identity are widely shared without Sepia Mutiny. I’ve appreciated this forum quite a bit, thanks for creating it.

  34. I have been reading SM for the last 5-6 years from Dubai. I visit sepia almost on a daily basis and noticed the decline in quality for the last couple of years.Anyways sepia was awesome,thank you Abhi and team.

    It is very sad that it has to end.

    But i am still hoping April 1st will not be the end of sepia.

  35. Nah, y’all – SM is not going away…it just an April Fool joke!!………………………..right?

  36. Pingback: Sepia Mutiny Fades Out | PartTime Job work

  37. I’m cross posting this from my comment on the most recent music monday because it think it fits here too.

    I haven’t commented in years, due to a demanding work schedule and more restrictive internet use ;0) but I have continued reading on a regular basis. I cannot put into words how much this community has meant to me. It has allowed me to articulate a texture to my pride in being a South Asian American. And as a mixed Desi-American, the Mutiny let me participate in and identify with my roots in a way that I had never been able to do before. I started reading in 2004 when I felt too shy to join in, but slowly I remembered that I too belong to the South Asian community both here and in real life. I can’t say anything else except “thank you” and “this will be missed.” I hope you all choose to maintain the site without updating it so that all of us shy lurkers have a touchstone to return to. Thank you thank you thank you.

  38. THe best thing about SM was the diversity of writers. It’s too bad this could not run longer. I sound like an old fogey. But I still love the blog format and really don’t care about twitter or even other social networking avenues.

    I think Indians Americans really got integrated into the arts at a very rapid pace in the last few years. Would have thought we would have an entire Thursday night lineup on NBC having at least one Indian regular character on every single show of the night in addition to CBS having two shows with one Indian character on the same night!!!!! I don’t think even Chinese or Korean americans, who have been more visible on American TV and in films longer than Indians have had that kind of visibility on one night.

    Thanks SM as this is the first indian blog i ever visited on a regular basis. You had everything from Anna to Razib in terms of writer styles. Good luck to everyone. I do not doubt one of the readers here will start their own blog.

    Do you think someone like Abhi could give aspiring bloggers a rundown of what it takes financially and timewise to run a blog like this? It would make for an educational blog item. P.S.: someone please get rid of the capchas.

  39. I’ll really miss this space. Didn’t comment often enough, but always enjoyed the banter. Running a blog just takes up too much time, and I feel like an entire generation of ‘early’ bloggers are retiring. Will miss this space. Feels like the end of an era. Sigh.

  40. came to this site through ANNA J, she is my FAV. liked the music posts… loved the silly posts. Really hated posts where you could not comment on… hated more the posts where you could not even comment from the start. Loved Vinod for sorting out London Meetup… others meetups may have had more… but this is international BOOOOM!!!! Loved the posts helping out and raising awareness for Asians Donors… SM rudie_c salutes you.

  41. Sepia Mutiny peaked in 2006-2007. Sepia Mutiny has been dead for the last couple of years. RIP.

  42. Pingback: End Times News | Living History

  43. Pingback: Now that the Mutiny is over, where can ABCDs go to get their fix? « When Latke Met Ladki