For Reals
October 26th, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
I’ve always read about this happening but have never had it happen until now. Five thoughtful paragraphs of blogging goodness gone. Disappeared before my very eyes. Dang. Here’s the abbreviated version.
Chris and I were talking last night about blogging. How even though we can be so real and authentic in what we write, or the manner we write, we still type every word, able to censor in even the most minute, unrecognizable ways. That no matter how hard we strive to be “Me…this is really me” that we aren’t. This is simply a one-dimensional portal for communication.
So, to prove this theory in my case, here is the blogging me.
I’m artsy and creative and I have a very particular rhythm to the way I write. I photoshop practically every photo of myself that you will ever see online. I have a place in my heart for women who struggle with addictions, sexual or otherwise, and since I grew up a PK, I have a passion for seeing the church as Christ sees it, and my heart breaks over the imperfections we so frequently complain about yet seldomly try to improve. I love traveling, and culture, and I’m a little frail since I’ve been sick a few times over the last year. I like girly things like shopping and chocolate and like most people in this same demographic, I was a huge coffee drinker, yet am now beginning to jump on the early-adopter bandwagon of tea drinkers. Always ahead of the curve.
So…are all those things true? Absolutely. I ain’t frontin’ there. But, that is all most of you - 99% of you - will ever see or know. Because that’s all I’ll ever let you see or know. Maybe subconciously, maybe not. But the truth of the matter is I hold the keys to what impression you’ll make of me.
Is blogging a new form of community? Yes. Is it valid? No doubt. Has it been an important part of my life the last few years? Absolutely. But is it everything we make it to be?
I’m not so sure.
Your thoughts?
Related posts:
Authenticity
Carole Turner said,
October 26, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Great post!
I have always journaled. I write and read so much so a blog is just a natural thing for me but it does only show, I would say 75% of who we really are.
I am not a preachers kid, I am a highschool drop out who was on her own at 17 and God saved me. My story is good ONLY because of Him, how he changed my life and I hope I relay that in the words I write on my blog.
Allen Arnn said,
October 26, 2006 at 10:17 pm
But is it everything we make it to be?
For me, blogging is everything I make it to be. I just try not to expect more of it than it can be.
Rich said,
October 26, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Whoa…true true.
I think though that this is true of ourselves when we think about what we wear to visit friends or plan who not to sit by at a family reunion. Our human nature will be come out, even if we try to edit it. This online mask we wear is as real as the ones we wear every day.
Oh well…I am still chewing on this…
haleyeah said,
October 27, 2006 at 9:18 am
definitely. if you remained anonymous to the world, you might share some of your deeper feelings, but once a couple people start reading, then you censor. Or, you just say to yourself, “man, now i have to start a new blog that no one know about!”
Maggie said,
October 27, 2006 at 9:37 am
“Our human nature will be come out, even if we try to edit it.” –Rich’s comment.
“if you remained anonymous to the world, you might share some of your deeper feelings, but once a couple people start reading, then you censor. Or, you just say to yourself, “man, now i have to start a new blog that no one know about! loved that in haleyeah’s comment.
Brings me to what I was thinking: I go back and re-read some of my own journals or post entries and I don’t recognize myself. It’s like seeing myself in a mirror dimly. Turning away, and forgetting what I really looked like.
Have ya’ll never been totally surprised to read what you wrote? I said, “THAT?” Sometimes I’m embarrassed or just don’t remember. Sometimes I think I capture more of “me” by writing than I ever see in my mind’s mirror. I usually want to “photoshop” those entries, too!
Even when we are writing geared toward a certain group of readers, a lot of who we are comes out.
I could tell you things about Anne that are not in her blog just by “knowing” her between the lines.
Sometimes what is between the lines stands out more than anything we say. I worry more about what is between my lines. I wonder what people see.
I love it when they tell me in comments. Sometimes I can’t see that about myself without being told, good or bad.
Great topic. Thanks for bringing it up, Anne.
Kevin Leggett said,
October 27, 2006 at 9:55 am
I guess we have to define “what we make it to be.” I know that God has placed a distinct desire in my heart for the unity of the Church and has often used blogging as a medium for me to meet others in the Body. I love blogging, but I could live without it.
Kristiapplesauce said,
October 27, 2006 at 12:49 pm
My struggle, I guess is when people criticize what I write about and tell me that the relationships aren’t real(those are usually the people who don’t blog, just the one’s who read what I write then call and tell me or Dan that they don’t approve).I think that it is what you make it to be.
West Wheeler said,
October 27, 2006 at 2:32 pm
that’s way to true. I try not to get too ofended when people tell me that these relationships aren’t real because I’ve been on the fake side of it before. I’ve been the fake and I’ve believed the fakers…..it’s painful….I am being real now and hopefully, ya’ll are too.
I have to go back to counting inventory….
Crystal Renaud said,
October 28, 2006 at 8:50 am
i love the non-blog version of anne jackson
krisk said,
October 29, 2006 at 9:04 am
good observations … i think that’s why i value meeting my ‘blog friends’ F2F when i can. it helps break down some of those barriers.