One of the first things to go when the pace of life gets hectic is the blog.
Both reading and writing blogs are lower priorities than the important things of daily life: data entry, data analysis, running backups, saving the world from massive destruction, and the like.
I had an interesting discussion with Lauren and Erin over lunch the other day about why anyone in their right mind would blog at all. Both are intelligent, highly motivated university professors, with several peer-reviewed publications to their name and they had comments like these:
"Why would I want to have people I don't know able to read my private thoughts? If I write in my journal, it's for me only, not for others."
"I already have enough trouble controlling the image people have of me - to have my words from a blog used against me is a thought to horrendous to contemplate."
"As an academic, I have trained myself to do all my writing as if it were going to be picked apart by a thesis defense committee, and I simply don't have enough energy to create such entries."
"I don't get why one would allow one's self to be driven by the appetite of the reader."
It makes me think about why I blog, why I had an email list for people who want to know about my thoughts about Zeitah in years past, and why I have an email list for people interested in progress in the rebuild of my Aeronca airplane .
Is it egotism? Pride gone wild? Self-centered individualism?
Truly - does anyone really care what I think about Carbon 14 dating, or what arcane method I was able to devise to print pot sherd outlines, or that I got to fly while in England on my way over?
Indeed, other than my family and a few close friends, I suspect the interest level is pretty low. But I continue to blog. I guess I just don't care that much if people don't care about my blog. I mean, it's nice if they like it, but my self-image doesn't hinge on adulation for a well-crafted blog entry.
I realized that today is a momentous day: it is the half-way point between my arrival in Israel and departure for home. Perhaps this is the reason for the navel-gazing: I'm half-way through the dig, and my vaunted hopes for data entry and analysis have gone unfulfilled. It's the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end.
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4 comments:
Hello, John!
I enjoyed this blog very much! Good questions from your friends about why one would want to blog? I find blogs to be very satisfying. They care such a great way for family and friends to follow another's journey -- not just about the places traveled, but about the musings that go along with such an experience.
I'm very glad that you blog, my dear John. Thank you for the gift you give of sharing your life there with us.
Jeanne
As Jeanne says, good questions. I think it probably should have more to do with one's own need to make sense of their daily lives than the value of a blog for communication. Articulating in a public form what you're doing helps in creating self-awareness.
Notwithstanding, I find your blogs most interesting.
I received this as an email from Charles, a Zeitah alum, who had this to say:
"First, as a former Zeitah participant I want to thank you for helping us who can not return be part of the experience again. That is one reason to blog.
Second I consider blogs another form of processing information. Blogs are essentially in my opinion a fusing of letter, diary and web page. Some choose to make a blog more a diary. Others to make it more a web page and others more like a letter. I think each has its benefits and drawbacks.
Third, I like to disagree with Erin!
Anyway, keep it up when you get a chance for those of us who continue to keep Tel Zeitah and the participatants in our thoughts.
Charles Fredrickson
Nagoya, Japan
p.s. Played any good soccer (football)?"
This is a great blog. I enjoy reading your blogs! I agree with Jeanne. Blogs for me are also satisfying. Unfortunately many in todays busy society do not stop to share our lives with others...blogging, for me, is a middle ground that keeps me sane.
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