The first step is a real doozie
My friend Jenn is a blogger...a REAL blogger, if you will- she's on a local website where she lives, posting her peculiar slant for all to see. I had sent her one of my out of the blue six word e-mails to wish her well on her birthday, and her reply mentioned this new venture.She put me in blog's way. I couldn't resist.
I went and peered into her world the next day. Settled in rather quickly, too, for her humor contains an overwhelming familiarity to me. It stems from when our paths first crossed- humor in its formative years. Days when an ad-inspired scoliosis joke born in the back of a school bus would render me unable to breathe, with pre-pubescent tears streaming down my face.
All-out laughter. I have laughed like that since, but at this point in my life, it's been a while.
I read Jenn's blog from the beginning ( it is fairly new), getting to know her again, and watching the comments she received. Her parents are in there, providing an insightful part of the blog itself. The feedback pyramid grows, with relatives and friends, associates and acquaintances. I decided right then and there that I would not jump on that bandwagon......(yet).
And then, there they are....they trickle in through word of mouth or through the website itself. Invisibly entering her sphere, complete strangers do something to fulfill that which I suppose is Jenn's purpose as a writer.
They connect.
I was in awe.
You see, I've been ignoring the blog for quite a while now, writing it off as a platform for egotists, or lunatics, or those just trying to sell a book. (Hell, maybe that does cover everyone).
"Blog, shmog", said I.
Yet after this personal exposure, I began to rethink my position. Maybe this blog thing did deseve a little analysis. I left the inner circle, and began to read about blogs, and bloggers (and the people who love them), and their bloglists, and blogospheres. And I must admit, it scared me a little. I was a bit disturbed for some reason with the possibilities of such unbridled, often anonymous "overcommunication". I pondered the ramifications of easy-access opinion on a large scale, and envisioned a deep, dark, ever-expanding cesspool of murky misinformation (you know, the one often mistaken for a sea of knowledge).
"But, oh, the goodness, and education, and understanding that could be fostered through such mass interaction", chimed my Libran nature, instantly solidifying a deadlock of balance. Yeah, yeah, up and down, good and bad, back and forth. I know the routine.
Anyway, there is just no way this thing won't change everything. The blog culture is predisposed for proliferation. It's scary/great, and it is just what we all want. I figure I will go ahead, test the waters, and get my two cents in.
Here we are, here it is, and here I am. Go figure.
Click here to go to Jenn's blog
posted by Jimmy @ 5:41 PM
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