Blog: March 2005 Archives

Anil Dash wrote about "The Blog Cycle". It was an extremely accurate description of the ongoing cycles in blogging. One commenter noted the only thing missing was the bullet point for people who write about the cycles of blogging.

We are all so un-original.

I would apologize if it weren't so altogether normal. It's time we all accept this fact and learn celebrate and embrace our un-originality. The rhythms of life winter, spring, summer, and fall are un-original, yet there is pleasure to be had in each season of life.

I missed celebrating my third anniversary of blogging on March 13th of this year. The first post was a little light on content. I think I've gotten a little more interesting since then.

I wish I could thank each and every one of you for stopping by to read my postings, at least those of you who aren't trying to jam spam into the blog comments. A special thank you goes out to the people who know me in person and read my blog but don't tell me that I am their guilty pleasure. I'm honored that you take the time to read about me and whatever I am thinking about.

For the 100's of people who find my weblog when they are searching for videos of Terry Tate "Office Linebacker" --- sorry I don't know where they are. If I could offer you a parting gift it would be the URL to those commercials.

How To Blog, by Tony Pierce. [Link courtesy of Julie Leung]

A lot of pixels have been spilled on the topic of gender in blogging. Lot's of people have weighed in. Here is a very small sampling.

• Rebecca Blood weighs in
• Shelley Powers, You are Hurting Us
• Jeff Jarvis, Blogging white male
• Stephen Levy, Blogging Beyond the Men's Club
• Dave P., "The problem with Blogrolls"

People have suggested many things to "remedy" the situation; some are interesting like removing blogrolls, others are designed to provoke and offend like labeling every link with gender and race.

Julie wrote one of my favorite posts on this topic, cutting right to the heart of the issue.

This speaks to the heart of the matter. We are all outsiders, stuck in our own local minima, unwilling or unable to see past our part of the curve and discover how much we resemble the rest of the sample.

While sympathetic to any person or group who is or has been historically downtrodden, I hate to listen to whining about how one group is more downtrodden than another. This is especially true when the discussion is dominated by digerati who are better off than 98% of the world's population. Please folks, it's not a contest. (Of course, I've read enough about gender politics to know that my attitude is easily written off as "that's what the powerful always say." That is an argument that is as useful as proclaiming that history is always written by the winners, so all history is basically wrong.)

I would like to mention that I would love to see tech conferences where gender is more equally represented. I don't know how to fix that as I don't send people to conferences, nor do I arrange for the speakers. Everyone should have an equal length line when they are waiting for the bathroom.

My blogroll is staying, mainly because it's a convenient way for me to be able to find out what my online friends are saying. I'll also continue my practice of linking to any authentic voice that speak to me irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, political persuasion or any other self-imposed or other-imposed group identification.

Recently I've written way too much about blogging and bloggers. Sorry here is another entry in the same category. If you don't want to read it, you can enjoy a picture from my sailing trip last year.

Last month I saw a post entitled, "I'm tempted to take up mountain climbing" by writer Ayelet Waldman. It was a little frightening as it talked very frankly about mental illness and hinted about Ayelet's own struggles. Ayelet has now stopped blogging and started writing for Salon. I don't read Salon much anymore because of the ads, but I saw a link to Ayelet's first article and I figured it might be interesting, so I clicked.

I read the article from March 14th, 2005 and was chilled to the bone. It turned out that Ayelet's post, this last February was quite a serious cry for help and wasn't simply a factual post about the dangers of suicide with people with a certain class of mental illness. Luckily her close friends and he husband understood the gravity of her February post and found ways to rally around her and help her through a very dark moment.

This was an amazing story to me. I've always joked about my blog being some sort of cry for help or a cry for attention. It's a relief to me to know that if I really did need help that my friends and regular readers might help me. I wonder if I would have the courage to be direct enough that people would understand what I was talking about?

Her recent Salon article got people to write in a lot of letters. Some were supportive; others criticized her for allowing her children to get dragged into both her mental health struggles and her on-line writing. I have some sympathy for both positions. Courageously telling the truth about the realities of life is extraordinary and beautiful to me. The other side of the coin sports children with all too weak shoulders growing up with the awful weight of wondering if their mother will kill herself or write an article about their next tantrum or misdeed. It's repugnant to me that children would have to bear the weight of the struggles and issues of adult life. The struggles of life will come uninvited to them all too soon, isn't it possible to shield them for a while?

In the end I'm just glad Ayelet made it through that episode and we still can enjoy her writing.

I'm also glad that my friends might read my posts and come to my aid if required.

Julie Leung wrote praising difficult to categorize blogs. I loved reading this piece as some of favorite blogs, as well as my own, are somewhat difficult to categorize.

The press has recently jumped on the blogging phenomena, but mostly they seem to focus on blogs that are easier to categorize like the political blogs. Those blogs probably make better copy and are easier for journalists to write about. Personally, I just don't find the easy to categorize blogs nearly as interesting as the personal blogs. Reading personal blogs, with their varied topics makes me feel like I'm getting to know a real human being who has more than one thought or topic to talk about.

In the course of this piece, Julie quoted Real Live Preacher, a blog that Young Joel has pointed me to in the past.

Funny, I like the idea of being a surprise. I wonder what I would have to do to surprise people.

Julie asks the question "Is blogging a religion?"

I agree with her quite a bit, but I think I differ in some regards.

Blogging doesn't provide the purpose for life, but somehow in blogging I have spent time writing about what matters to me. In doing this I have discovered more about both my purpose and existence. This would also make meditation, journaling, balancing a checkbook, and compulsively scheduling things in a day-timer religions as well. Each of those can produce explanations of purpose and existence when examined closely.

Blogging may involve a belief that the words of the writer have power. Maybe the god in blogging is the human writer.

I've also read many breathless posts talking about how blogs are democratizing and revolutionary. I think more than one blogger seems to believe in the power of blogs to heal the world.

The written word is a powerful testimony that can speak from beyond the grave. While blogging doesn't explain where I was before I was born, it might explain right where I'll be after I die. After I die, I might be a collection of bits in a database that people can invoke long after my body has moldered away. I would also point out that there are major religions which are a little vague about where we were before birth. [Note to self: Make sure someone can update my blog if the unlikely even of my demise.]

Blogging and bloggers paint a picture and interpret humanity, but I wouldn't describe it as holistic. It's fragmented and reflects the fragmentation and diversity of at least the net-connected globe.

I think community and belonging is a spiritual need. I've certainly gotten that in spades from blogging, although I can't say it's shared with my family.

I loved Julie's thoughts on the subject, especially the notion that blogging is a container. I drew a picture of that idea once a long time ago. She is also right on when she says that blogging can be very spiritual and thus very different from from the expectations people have about the word religion.

I can't believe I didn't have to pay to read her writing.

Jennie published the results of her survey on Significant Others and Blogging.

I wonder why a significant other wouldn't read their partners blog?

Today I was supposed to record my inaugural podcast, but my partner in this venture had a bit of real life come up. Since I had the time set aside, I tried doing some recordings of my own just to become familiar with the process.

Hearing the sound of my own voice frightens me. I sound so stilted, so Canadian. I have no idea how you people listen to me every day.

I was talking to one of my co-workers about my blog the other day. She confessed that reading my blog felt voyeuristic, as if she was spying on me by reading it. I responded by indicating that if she was a voyeur that made me an exhibitionist, after all you aren't sneaking into my room and reading this in my locked diary.

I've never had that reaction when reading other people's blogs, even people who post about very intimate matters.

If you want to stop feeling like a voyeur, stop lurking and leave a comment. If you really want to join the conversation, start your own blog. If neither of those appeal to you, remember I like talking about this stuff, so don't feel guilty about reading it.

The best part of the conversation was when she said that if I blogged about her, I had to refer to her as "my favorite co-worker."