Hmmmm, I guess it's time to venture into the big bad world of blogging. Here's a thought to get things started: why are we so obsessed with other people's lives? Reality tv, memoir (the hottest literary genre out there), even blogging - it's all about full disclosure. Is it a lack of genuine intimacy in our culture? Escapism? Looking to other people's lives for inspiration? Or has this just substituted reading novels, the old way of taking care of those problems?
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"Humility, that low, sweet root, From which all heavenly virtues shoot" - Thomas More
3 comments:
Thanks for your thoughts. I'm still not sure what blogging will be for me, especially since none of my friends have even checked it out yet (notable exception: Bethany). I even sent out the infamous "check-it-out-I-have-a-blog-now" e-mail, which for some reason I felt compelled to title "It's a boy!" But anyway, I think you're right on, K, with why we write. It's that banal stuff we just want to get out there, particularly to our friends.
But why do we read blogs? Why am I suddenly drawn into the world of a sarcastic professional with a serious (though understandable) aversion to the names Jackie and DeBeers (besides your wit and insight - great blog!)? Maybe we just want to know we're not the only ones. I'm glad when I find out other people hate the abuse of the compact car parking space, or struggle with hope in the face of loss (if I read your poem right, Bethany). Maybe it's about that lifelong quest to not be alone, and I don't mean necessarily romance. I think Hawthorne called it the "magnetic chain of humanity." Or maybe it was Melville. Regardless, I'm just thinking about it too much again. My blog is off and running, so who cares why.
I think you got it Matt. (and it was Hawthorne by the way) its some combination of really wanting to know what goes on in somebody else's head and also wanting to know you're not a total freak, or at least somebody else is too. I read other people's blogs for the same reason I read novels and Anne Lamott. "Someone else thinks like that too?" and "oh, I think I understand him better now."
I post mainly as an outlet. And because I'm trying to be clever and funny, sometimes. And as a quick update for friends I never talk to.
Also: frequently people read and don't comment. So that could be going on. Especially since you're not allowing anonymous comments.
Thanks for the heads-up on anon postings, and well done on the literary reference. That is why I will never attain your level of scholarship, as also confirmed by our meeting in the WAO today. Praise from Roy is hard to come by.
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