My brother-in-law, Nathan, recently asked me "Is blogging family history?" Definitely. One of the things I like best about blogging is that I actually do it. And, when I do blog, my personality shows more than when I hand-write in my journal. I doubt I ever would have written in my journal about my grandpa's oatmeal cookies, the absurdity of health insurance companies refusing coverage of birth control until the development of Viagra, or even my reading of Harry Potter.
Any time I blog, I know that it's open for the wide world to read. Likewise, when I write in my journal or write letters to people, I try to keep in mind that posterity will read it. Hopefully, I'm not sugar-coating my life. At the same time, though, I think that there are certain aspects of our lives that we want our posterity to know. Likewise, I try to leave out things that other people wouldn't want their posterity to know.
Obviously, I'm a genealogist. When I think about what's going on now with genealogy, I can only imagine what it will be like when my ancestors are researching me. Surely somebody will have digitized my hand-written journals and letters and made them accessible and fully searchable. That means that if I've mentioned you in my journal (and I probably have, with first and last names) your posterity can find out about you through me!
Blogging, for me, began as a way to keep my friends updated about my life. Gradually, it has become a way for me to write for fun. I wrote quite a lot in high school. During my first three years of high school, my English teacher required us to write at least one editorial and one poem every six weeks. She would then send those off to various publications so we could be published. Plus, I was on the newspaper staff for my last three years of writing. I did a lot of writing! I loved to write about my thoughts and opinions, and I really missed that when I got to college, and blogging has gradually become my creative-writing outlet.
Fortunately, blogging satisfies my creative-writing needs as well as keeping me in touch with people I care about now and people who will be interested in me in the future.
Any time I blog, I know that it's open for the wide world to read. Likewise, when I write in my journal or write letters to people, I try to keep in mind that posterity will read it. Hopefully, I'm not sugar-coating my life. At the same time, though, I think that there are certain aspects of our lives that we want our posterity to know. Likewise, I try to leave out things that other people wouldn't want their posterity to know.
Obviously, I'm a genealogist. When I think about what's going on now with genealogy, I can only imagine what it will be like when my ancestors are researching me. Surely somebody will have digitized my hand-written journals and letters and made them accessible and fully searchable. That means that if I've mentioned you in my journal (and I probably have, with first and last names) your posterity can find out about you through me!
Blogging, for me, began as a way to keep my friends updated about my life. Gradually, it has become a way for me to write for fun. I wrote quite a lot in high school. During my first three years of high school, my English teacher required us to write at least one editorial and one poem every six weeks. She would then send those off to various publications so we could be published. Plus, I was on the newspaper staff for my last three years of writing. I did a lot of writing! I loved to write about my thoughts and opinions, and I really missed that when I got to college, and blogging has gradually become my creative-writing outlet.
Fortunately, blogging satisfies my creative-writing needs as well as keeping me in touch with people I care about now and people who will be interested in me in the future.
2 comments:
Does your journal mention that we're your favorite friends and you wish you could move to Austin to be by us? We certainly wish you would move here! It's a home buyer's market!
Yes, well the part about Texas having only two seasons, hot and Really hot, is a deterrent to us. But yes, the journals does mention that you are my friends and now you live far, far away. :(
Post a Comment