I’ve decided to start my rants with a pretty picture to soften up my readers, and this one is fresh off the old digital. It’s a lovely blue plumbago, the airy foliage of amsonia (lower left), cross vine foliage, and some mostly spent butterfly bush flowers.
Now for the rant, which is about some folks I know who say, when asked if they’ve checked out this blog, "Oh, I never read blogs." So I ask you, blog-readers all, why do some people feel such aversion? I liken it to people who dismiss all of television - including public TV, HBO and the Daily Show, for crissakes. I say yeah, most people would be bored by most blogs, but if something important is happening on them (the major political ones) or someone you know is expressing herself through one, isn’t it worth a look? And as blogs become a more entrenched part of our culture, do you think some of these stalwarts will come around?
So now to praise the (sometimes) mighty blog. After a bit of writing for print and for static websites, I’m totally enamored of this medium. I love the cumulative nature of it, especially when you can file posts away in categories for future reference. I love the comments and the community that they foster. It’s also a great place to display photos. And the experience of posting daily, or trying to, means that the photography, the writing and the posting all become parts of your everyday life, so you’re stretching those little muscles daily. Not to mention just thinking of something to say. And say you?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
djinn 09.28.05 at 1:03 pm
I always hear the words ‘I never read…’ and that about says it.
I’ll bet they also don’t read magazines, newspapers, or the back of their cereal box, either…
…and as long as there is something moving on the television, I suspect they will never come around.
Amazing, the differing cultures we have within one culture. The culture of the word. The culture of the picture.
To me, blogs are the best of both.
(But I can’t be in the same room as a television. it’s like an addiction - I can’t not watch it… )
Sandy 09.28.05 at 5:02 pm
Sometimes I wish I never told anyone about my blog. I think I would rather be anonymous. The other day I was at a nursery and a lady came up to me and told me she regularly reads my blog. I felt kind of odd. Like she knew lots about me and she was a stranger.
MistressMary 09.29.05 at 6:09 am
Well. Hmmm. I see it more as “to each his own.” Or her own. I have had friends/relatives say the same thing, and these are people who read avidly in many different genres. But this particular genre is one that they are not interested in.
I also love this medium, and love the daily exercise of deciding what to write about and how to best say it. I have become very friendly, even close, with some of the people in my little blog neighborhood. But I’m ok with the fact that my little sister has never read it, and my best friend seldom reads it.
Amy Stewart 09.29.05 at 12:50 pm
I’m with you, girlfriend! I think it’s a great format for almost any kind of writer.
The other day I heard a story on NPR about, of all things, cocktails, and the “expert” they had on was a cocktail blogger. Of course! This woman was probably more immersed in the world of cocktails, on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis, than someone who had written a book on the subject, say, two or three years ago.
Besides, I am constantly amazed at all the things people are doing in the world–a blog is such a great way to capture it all.