Are there any websites online where folks post essays?
For what purpose?
Get a blog. It’s free.
Does anyone actually read the blogs of no name people like myself?
Don’t know. I had a Blogger blog like 15 years ago. I did get random traffic. Not a ton, but it happened. And again, 15 years ago. But Blogger still exists and as far as I can tell, still works exactly the same way.
People also wouldn’t read the essays of no name people like yourself. Think about it–if there was a web site where thousands of people posted random “essays” that they had written–with no oversight about the quality of the writing–would you spend time digging through the waist-deep manure to find the occasional pearl that man or may not be there?
Maybe check out https://medium.com/ ? It seems to be a new blogging platform that does more to get stories out in front of other people than, say, LiveJournal did. Or maybe LiveJournal used to be the place to do it, but communities and cliques formed and it’s old news now.
Besides the one we’re on?
I was actually hoping to find a community or click with a similar interest to my own. Secondly I am looking for a public forum where I can test out material to gauge reactions, it helps to refine an idea or technique for presenting something.
I did find a forum where essays are posted. I went through them and saw very few that interested me and none related to what I am actually working on. I plan to join that and see if I get any feedback.
Have you seen Tremr.com?
At a glance it might be very close to what I am looking for. I would have to step up my game a bit for that site but I think I can do it.
Good. 
Have fun.
www.smashwords.com
I dont know much about the site. A lot of stuff is for sale at a dollar or so, but you can filter it for the free articles and books. It has a category for Essays.
My son mentioned this one to me, I will check it out.
Yes, if the content is of interest to the target audience. The target audience can find you through organic search. There are other things you need to do to promote your blog, but for starters, it will be your content on how people can find you.
So if I type in search words such as " Collaboration" it will come up when folks search for collaborations?
Sure. After the other 20,000 pages about collaborations that have been there longer and achieved more views and have more people linking to them.
Yes. The higher you show up on the search, like the first page has to do with how unique your words and phrases are for your target audience. How many times your page is linked to from other web sites, such as forums.
But it is the content of your blogs which is doing to help you. The various topics you mention and what you talk about in it. To be found this way through organic searches is to learn more about SEO (search engine optimization).
I just learned about a new blog and website last night while searching I never heard of before and it was found because I was doing an organic search for the topic/phrase.
You can also do other things to increase your exposure for SEO which includes creating a YouTube channel, do online advertising using Google Adwords, etc.
It just depends on how much time and money you want to invest in it. YouTube is free. So are the blogs out there too. You can create your own website and have it hosted pretty cheaply too. You can start out using Google Adwords cheaply and see what works for you.
Then there is finding out who the trend settings are about your topic and get them to blog about your website and blog, link to you, and this helps build an audience.
No reason to be so negative. That’s like someone asking, if they get a degree in accounting can they then get a job, and your reply would be “Sure. After you compete with the 20,000 other people who graduated each year with an accounting degree…”. You aren’t telling the whole story, or you simply don’t know, but SEO is a huge industry all by itself. This is how it’s done.