Blogness
When I read Symposium with freshman (I should say freshpeople) we talk about Plato's theory of forms. That somewhere, in the non-material world, a perfect chair exists (along with every other perfect thing); one which has all the attributes of chairness and nothing extra. His theory of perfections is quite powerful, and echoes of 'ness' or essence show up in unlikely places, including native american creation myths: in one a woman from another world leaps into our own, and on her long falling journey towards what will become our earth, she is accompanied by essences of beaver, turtle, and waterfowl. Not the actual creatures, but their non-material essences.
Why this lengthy intro? Is it because teachers, no matter what level, can't help be didactic? Probably, yes. If I taught kindergarden I'd tell you to pull out the nap mats now.
I am trying to discover, what is the essence of blog for me? As I look around at other blogs, those 'outside' which I find either through links on other pages or simply by clicking the 'next blog' button at the top of my own sit for twenty minutes, I am finding some pretty accomplished blogs. Many more loopy ones clotted with bad japanese animation or adolescent writing (from non-adolescents) but some very snazzy ones too. And a few things come to mind:
One, I want to update the look of my blog, even though scooter and I were thrilled ours looked the same when we began (they still could in the future). But I learned some web design when I was in long beach, and I know I could personalize this if I took some time. For example, check out this site or this one. If I had a site that looked like these and was browsing via 'next blog' I wouldn't even look at this page!
There are also some gifted writers out there, people who are using blog to actually write, like tequila. Not that we don't write, mind you, but some people have actually gotten famous for it. There are contests and awards. And this feels very odd. Most of what I find is life story anecdotes, told well, often poignant or funny, with solid dialogue thrown in. But blog as competition! That's something I hadn't considered.
I've also found out such a thing as a private blog does exist, and what I have now is not one. Livejournal will let me post entries which can only be read by those I've given permission. So I could give everyone in the 'family' access to my personal material and add people as new relationships formed. I'm thinking about this a lot. Anonymity, up here, is an illusion, and though I hope my blog can someday help someone I don't know, I'm not sure it's healthy for me to share the way I do in a public forum. Some people really do blog out of desparation, like this girl. I would never post to people I don't know, of course (especially kids) but I lurk. What a word that is. But how far can I go in my personal transparency? Clearly, some lurk here, or will.
And that's just the nature of blog. Smart bloggers know this, accomodate for it; some thrive on it.
So how do I separate my sharing from my, uh, homiletic explorations? I don't know. Writers like tequila, craft; not just blog, craft. If I decide to craft, what do I craft? There's something squirrely about self-publication online when the material is serious; you know how many bad poem blogs are out there? Yeesh. Running into one of those is like sipping a clorox martini. My college district has a creative magazine for faculty; the writers who are truly publishing are never in there. Why put poems in that little rag when their work is accepted places like fugue or the southeast review or ploughshares?
As I've shared before, I write about theology because I have lots of questions to work out, and I actually to talk about those ideas. I can't do much of that in my classroom; so far I don't do it in my church. And frankly, I don't know of any magazines or journals I could do that in. I share my personal material up here because I need a place to talk. I live in a small town in the woods, and even after 3 1/2 years up here I'm still trying to build relationships. Is an open weblog the best place to do that?
These are questions I have to consider. I don't want to lose contact with funkiller or scooter or chameleon or anyone who reads my life, but whether I'll keep one fully public blog going for all of it, that I don't know. What I want blog to do for me, that I don't know. But if there's one thing consciousness gives us, it's time to think.
Be well all. S is all the way down at the airport picking up Mikey, and the wind is blowing so hard in the mountains I'm surprised I still have power. Better quit while I do.
Why this lengthy intro? Is it because teachers, no matter what level, can't help be didactic? Probably, yes. If I taught kindergarden I'd tell you to pull out the nap mats now.
I am trying to discover, what is the essence of blog for me? As I look around at other blogs, those 'outside' which I find either through links on other pages or simply by clicking the 'next blog' button at the top of my own sit for twenty minutes, I am finding some pretty accomplished blogs. Many more loopy ones clotted with bad japanese animation or adolescent writing (from non-adolescents) but some very snazzy ones too. And a few things come to mind:
One, I want to update the look of my blog, even though scooter and I were thrilled ours looked the same when we began (they still could in the future). But I learned some web design when I was in long beach, and I know I could personalize this if I took some time. For example, check out this site or this one. If I had a site that looked like these and was browsing via 'next blog' I wouldn't even look at this page!
There are also some gifted writers out there, people who are using blog to actually write, like tequila. Not that we don't write, mind you, but some people have actually gotten famous for it. There are contests and awards. And this feels very odd. Most of what I find is life story anecdotes, told well, often poignant or funny, with solid dialogue thrown in. But blog as competition! That's something I hadn't considered.
I've also found out such a thing as a private blog does exist, and what I have now is not one. Livejournal will let me post entries which can only be read by those I've given permission. So I could give everyone in the 'family' access to my personal material and add people as new relationships formed. I'm thinking about this a lot. Anonymity, up here, is an illusion, and though I hope my blog can someday help someone I don't know, I'm not sure it's healthy for me to share the way I do in a public forum. Some people really do blog out of desparation, like this girl. I would never post to people I don't know, of course (especially kids) but I lurk. What a word that is. But how far can I go in my personal transparency? Clearly, some lurk here, or will.
And that's just the nature of blog. Smart bloggers know this, accomodate for it; some thrive on it.
So how do I separate my sharing from my, uh, homiletic explorations? I don't know. Writers like tequila, craft; not just blog, craft. If I decide to craft, what do I craft? There's something squirrely about self-publication online when the material is serious; you know how many bad poem blogs are out there? Yeesh. Running into one of those is like sipping a clorox martini. My college district has a creative magazine for faculty; the writers who are truly publishing are never in there. Why put poems in that little rag when their work is accepted places like fugue or the southeast review or ploughshares?
As I've shared before, I write about theology because I have lots of questions to work out, and I actually to talk about those ideas. I can't do much of that in my classroom; so far I don't do it in my church. And frankly, I don't know of any magazines or journals I could do that in. I share my personal material up here because I need a place to talk. I live in a small town in the woods, and even after 3 1/2 years up here I'm still trying to build relationships. Is an open weblog the best place to do that?
These are questions I have to consider. I don't want to lose contact with funkiller or scooter or chameleon or anyone who reads my life, but whether I'll keep one fully public blog going for all of it, that I don't know. What I want blog to do for me, that I don't know. But if there's one thing consciousness gives us, it's time to think.
Be well all. S is all the way down at the airport picking up Mikey, and the wind is blowing so hard in the mountains I'm surprised I still have power. Better quit while I do.
Comments
That "next blog" button is addictive -- and you are totally right... so many Japanime-esque blogs. The ones that truly irritate are the ones that have all the weird pop-ups and music that you can't get past unless you "enable" stuff.
Like you, I have also thought a lot about the purpose of blog. There are so many variations. Maybe I'll put together my own post on some of the things I've seen in my blog wanderings.
I am right with you on the lurking stuff. Every once in a while I'll post a comment, it the blog seems like it's more of a "call to the world" rather than the "private conversation" blogs that some seem to be.
Our little family seems to have a mix. Some posts are clearly "in-family" only -- you have to know the players to understand the plot. There there's tons of "open to everyone" types of posts.
It kind of feels like we all have to go through blogolesence, where we develop our own style, voice and interests. The great news is, it can be whatever we want it to be.
I'd love to jazz up the html on my blog too. Do you know how to do that? For some reason I thought that the fancier blogs were ones you have to upgrade / pay for.
Anyway, loved this post and the links to the other blogs you have found to be interesting. :) Lurk on.
once again, your supportive voice is appreciated. And it's good to know there's another 'next blog' button hitter out there.
And I love the term blogolescence. It's true.
I do believe you can do deep tweaking in the html in blogspot. Tequila has. But I haven't looked into her source code. When I figure out something, I'll let you know.
t