As part of Blogging 101, I am supposed to re-examine and then possibly edit my title and tagline. To do that I have to remember why I choose that wording…
Where did you begin when there are so many choices?
After a rough period at work and upon some reflection, I remember thinking that the view of an outsider nicely summed up my position. I am a 外国人 (gaikokujin), which is literally a person from an outside country, in Japan but all my life I have been told that I do things differently from everybody else. New kid? Yes, that was me time after time. Above average test scores? Yep. Did not wear sweats in high school but wore something more interesting or personal? Let us just say that the mall was not primary source of clothing as a teenager. Does my art fit any established styles or genres? No, not as far as I can tell. My artwork, regardless of the medium, tends to be too artsy for the conservatives and too conservative for the artsies. I just seem to have a rough time toeing the line of conformity. I needed a blog name that could reflect me and my position.
Why that specific title?
The hard part was the actual wording. I wanted to call my blog, “Looking In from the Outside”, or something like that, but it was already being used by somebody else. Do you know how hard it is to find a title that nobody else is using? After much searching, I discovered “Viewed from the Outside” was available. Thank goodness!
Which tagline is better: old or new?
Next was the tagline. The current tagline says, “Outsider’s View on Art and a World Where Being Creative is a Daily Necessity.” To be honest, I do not really like repeating “outside” or “view” but I did not know how else to explain my objectives. I could leave it like that or perhaps I could tweak it a bit. What do you think of, “Outsider in a World Where Being Creative is a Daily Necessity”? Now that I write it down I think I actually prefer this new version.
What do you think?
Which version do you like better? Do you have any other suggestions? Share your opinions and viewpoints in the comment box, please. I am open to all suggestions if it improves the content of the site.

PS The physical format is slowly being changed, so please be patient. MZ