Quoting Kristin:
"dietrich has thrown me a stöckchen - has tagged me to write 8 random facts about myself. heard about blog memes? this seems to be similar to the "5 things about me" blog meme."
Now it's my turn. And I agree, random is impossible here. But am I supposed to put stuff that most people wouldn't already know about me? This is hard.
1 - I hate the Sound of Music. I generally dislike most "break into song" musicals. It interrupts the suspension of my disbelief. I make exceptions for some comedies, e.g., Grease, but generally, I prefer musicals if all or nearly all dialogue is sung, e.g. in Evita. But let's be clear. I really hate the Sound of Music, not just because of the breaking into song. Too saccharine is at the top of the long list of things I hate about the SoM. However, now and then I sing two SoM songs to Adam: Do Re Mi and Favourite Things.
2 - I have a birthmark on my lower left thigh. It's about the size and shape of the head of a tablespoon and dark brown. I usually forget about it but now and then someone is really surprised by it, which surprises me.
3 - I like wearing socks and sandals.
4 - For special occasions, I give extra attention to my ears in the shower and I like to wear jewellery with sentimental value, usually my mother's jewellery. Otherwise, I hardly ever wear jewellery (other than my wedding band) or make up.
5 - I now make very LA Story orders at Starbucks, including recently: "for here venti extra hot hot chocolate with whip" and "tall extra hot soy milk red tea latte."
6 - I lose rolls of masking tape but end up with extra erasers all the time.
7 - I'm very prickly about my singing.
8 - I often want car rides to last longer. I'm usually feeling disappointed as I near the destination.
Your turn Gina. I also thought about picking Kevin (too predictable), Kern (has Day 3 to write still), Becky (on vacation), Pam and Jesse (already very prolific), and MarkMark (very unprolific).
This entry typifies my difficulty with blogging. It's the diversity of a public audience. I have close friends, acquaintances, relatives, in-laws, co-workers, former students, and maybe even current/future students reading the blog. It's very challenging to select content for that audience. And once selected, it is challenging to write the material, certainly in an interesting manner. There is prior knowledge to consider and things are easily misunderstood, not understood, or even offensive if they are not clearly, and thus, potentially boringly over-explained.
So fellow bloggers, I ask you: How do you handle the lines of clear-vs-concise and safe-vs-interesting? I realise that these adjectives aren't necessarily poles and that the so-called lines aren't really orthogonal either.
9 comments:
Karen, the fact that you hate the Sound of Music makes me feel much better about my lifelong commitment to never watching it.
I've always imagined it too be sugary-sweet, but mostly, I always hated the sense of imperative. Like it's not just a movie, but a civic duty.
"WHAT!?! What do you mean you've never seen it? Every civilized person on the planet watches it annually! You MUST watch it."
I get the same reaction to my never having read or seen a Harry Potter book or movie and to my not owning a cell phone. Although I do not have lifelong commitments to these decisions. I'm just that out of it.
Hi Karen, in reading your blog entry today I have no honourable choice but to agree to your challenge (when I get home later today). Please note that *I* have no qualms about overloading Kern's work queue - I have reason to believe he performs better under pressure. So watch out Kern! You're next!!
I don't think I have the same difficulty with blogging. My blog posts are like letters home. Which is why it mildly bothers me that my mother and father don't read my blog (too many technical and language barriers).
I've never really enjoyed creative writing. However, I've always loved writing letters. I love thinking about how the person receiving the letter will enjoy the story or joke I am going to tell them. With the blog, I sometimes imagine the person reading it, or a group of people (i have a general idea of who reads my blog). I never worry about "safety", because I know I always instrinsically worry about "safety". I'm hard wired to not offend nor displease.
I believe that blogging is media at the personal level. As such, it can become what ever you need it to be. Therefore, there is no need for making it one style or an other. More important, is the information what you want to circulate.
BTW. I enjoy your blog very much and read it often (and the comments are priceless at times)
Very interesting facts, don't be offended if I start staring at your ears or lower thighs :)
As for what to blog, ours is pretty straight forward; its basically a journal of our thoughts and experiences with starting a family. That keeps us focused on what to write. I like to think of it as neat stuff our kids would like to read when they're much older.
Karen, were you suggesting that *I* am too predictable? That my 'blog is too predictable? Or that choosing me next would be too predictable?
I suspect the answer might actually be all of the above!
Kevin, it was the last one, really!
As for clear-vs-concise and safe-vs-interesting, I tend to try to be concise (maybe it's because I'm lazy and I don't like typing alot. Safe vs interesting is more tricky... you never know who is going to read this... I think I blogged about this before. My posts tend to be fairly safe and benign really... usually just the latest news about me, and interesting things that I see.
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