Promising to swear off traffic stories, I do understand that there are other points of focus- stories worth telling. Somewhere in the blog world, things can get muddy. I suppose it is all about returning to audience and remembering who you are writing for and why. Unless you're a nonblogging blogger like me who is mostly just writing to make sense of muddled thoughts and incoherent experiences.
I think, back in the beginning of this whole experience, I spent a lot more time examining my inner conflicts and confusions publicly- though I admit to trying to keep a very low profile. According to my stat counts, I am still pretty low profile but definitely more aware that anyone can find me here. Students, parents of a student, friends, enemies.....anyone. And it affects what I am willing to put out there. To be fair, I think I understand the blogging field to be one of lighthearted comments on life...or, to describe the academic blogs I keep up with- succinct points of view on pertinent developments in the field (of whatever topic the blog is about.)
Of course there is an overwhelming number of us who began just to keep friends and family updated on our lives from a distance. My friend- mentor, workout encourager and overall hero of fitness blogs here and admits freely to searching for topics to write about. Because after awhile, life is life. Finding ways to make it interesting and unusual can be a daunting task in the face of a Kinshasa afternoon. At one point she states:
"My excuse for the last 2ish weeks has been that life has been full of heart wrenching "stuff", disappointment, broken promises and things that are hard to deal with
sometimes! That is all I will say about that....................."
She goes on to come up with a list of 20 items that could serve to satisfy those interested in her well being. But of course, I got stuck back at the introduction. At the "heart wrenching stuff." Because sometimes that's the stuff we need to hear from people we know to make us feel like we're not alone in our struggles, to make us feel a bit more human and occasionally, to help us find some purpose (yes, I can support you through this. Let me help.)
While I admire her greatly and look forward to taking her classes, we're not actually that close. So I have no idea what the "stuff" is or how she is handling it. I am nowhere near socially adept enough to know how to bring it up or how to move our friendship closer. I am reminded of someone else on campus who came right up and planted herself firmly in front of me, asking a barrage of questions I was completely unprepared for. It turned me into a babbling idiot spouting out much more personal information in those 4 minutes than I have ever shared with her in our 6 years of working together. And, no, I don't especially feel any closer to her or more like a friend. So that's probably not the approach I will emulate.
But it does leave me wondering. About the stories we choose to tell, and the ideas that vulnerability makes you stronger or more likeable. Not that I am especially trying to be either. Sometimes I do regret the stories I have told, or the audience I have told them to, but mostly I am busy trying to keep it all tucked away someplace private where it can't be dissected or judged or too closely examined.
You can't really be a successful writer like that, can you?
