I was asked recently why I blog. This person wasn’t being particularly critical but she did point out that apparently my site is not all that popular since I don’t seem to get any comments.
Well, I am read by a fair share of other bloggers and non-bloggers as well, and even by people outside of the local blogosphere. In fact sometimes I marvel at the number of people who take the time to read my ramblings and rants!
But you know, I really do blog as much for myself as for any public. I have always kept some kind of journal or diary where I wrote out my thoughts. Sometimes I even leave these little notes written in the margins of a book I am reading; sometimes in the account book I keep of my expenditures. In fact I think I tend to think best and organize my thoughts with my pencil point! Blogging then is merely continuing a lifelong habit only now it is public and every word is stored out there somewhere and can be retrieved and read again, but the words can never be retracted.
However all of that doesn’t really answer the question as to why I blog so I went back to my profile on my site (And So I Go: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) and found that what I wrote then still applies today. So here is your answer Darlin’ as to why the Opinionated Old Broad continues to blog. BB
Apr. 28, 2006 – Good Things: Retiring to Greensboro and Beginning Blogging
I suppose introductions are called for here so here goes: I’m retired with a body 64 years old, but a mind that is still somewhere in the “30 somethings”. Years ago a much older friend told me much the same thing and I really didn’t understand her since my mind had aged with my body. But, at a point the mind stops and the body continues on it’s way to aging, i.e. falling apart! So now I finally understand what Mary Margaret was telling me. Anyhow, I am retired with an old body, a young mind and a computer and the question is: what should I do with this combination? Blog, of course.
I will explain the title of my blog since it conveys so much of what I want to say and do with the rest of my life not only this blog: And So I Go: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. I chose this title because we are all today an anthology of who we were yesterday, and tomorrow will reflect the additional scars and laugh lines added today.
When I first began my blog it was with MSN Spaces and my intent was to just tell stories of my life, my family and the eleven years my husband and I lived and traveled on the back roads of North America. We came off the road and settled in Greensboro, North Carolina because we fell in love with the city the first time we were here in 1991. We are retired and this will be our last home.
Anyhow, if I had done as I had planned I would have been an old lady reminiscing and would have come to no one’s notice. But I would have missed knowing and talking with and joking with some really fantastic people here in Greensboro. The people who make up Greensboro’s blogosphere. And so I do not regret at all learning about and joining Greensboro101 and meeting one of the most patient, lovely men, Roch Smith Jr. who took an elderly lady who didn’t know what she was doing and lead her step by step thru the mechanics of blogging.
It was on Greensboro101 that I developed my present style. You see I reverted back to my old young self as the Brenda who speaks her mind and call’em like I sees’em. Only now I am an opinionated older lady who speaks out about the things I see happening around me I don’t feel are right, or good, for the people of our city, county, country or world.
I was an activist for civil rights as a young college student, and that just began a lifetime of involvement with local government and social issues where ever I found myself living.
I choose to speak of controversial topics on my site. I know these are the topics that get one in a lot of trouble from time to time! The blogosphere can be a vicious place at times. People comment on your posts and sometimes they are simply nasty especially if they don’t agree with your take on the issue. I think the nastiness is partially because of the anonymity of blogging, even to the extent of not having to use your real name if you choose not to, that allows some to speak more harshly than they would face to face. Consequently, I have had some knocks, and I have lost my temper and unleashed my rather wicked tongue a few times too. Then been terribly sorry about my bad behavior!
Far more often than not, I have been given encouragement. You may agree with me and that’s nice. Or you may disagree with me, and that is good because that means I have given you something to think about and forced you to formulate your own opinion on the topic. (You know what they say: you can take the teacher out of the school, but you can never take the teaching out of the teacher!) And whether you agree, disagree, like or dislike what I have to say please know that I am giving my thoughts and opinions sincerely and from the perspective of familiarity and experiences with the topic over a long lifetime.
This is not to say my views are correct by any means, it is merely to try to show you from what perspective I am viewing the present. The perspective of what was thought and done in the past so that you may be the wiser and perhaps be spared making the same mistakes.
I recently did an article on my blog about bloggers policing themselves as have several other bloggers. Joel Gillespie being a well respected person has often stepped in and tried to bring some civility to an on-line discussion. The blogging community can be a vicious place as I stated before, and which I found out very soon after starting to blog last September. It can also be very demanding . But other bloggers correcting your mistakes is a good thing and demands that a blogger be careful to check his/her facts before commenting. It should however be done with kindness. And, it must be done with the person correcting being absolutely sure of his/her facts also.
I welcome all comments, corrections, disagreements and kudos. And you may send flowers if you are so moved, just for the Hey of it! Sincerely, Brenda Bowers
Very nice. Gives me a better sense of your background and how it resulted in your thoughts expressed on our blog recently.
During the past eight or so months that I have been blogging, I have learned perhaps more than during any comparable period in my life. It’s pretty amazing. I look forward to communicating with you frequently over the coming years.