This Would Be a Manifesto . . .Why I BLoG

[Note: This entry responds to an invitation to participate in Reconstruction: A Journal of Contemporary Culture's issue on blogging. Read more here. ]

WHY I BLoG

“(Blogging) is related to character. If your values are sound, your (blogging) will be sound. It all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and work your way with humanity and integrity to the completed (post). Then you’ll have something to (RSS).”

--adapted from Richard Zinsser, from his book On Writing Well


I blog because I write. I write because it’s the most authentic and satisfying way I’ve found to explore and discover my world. That’s not to say the writing is authentic and satisfying, but the process is.

Blogging moved my writing out of my journals and into a realm that, frankly, is almost as obscure. Yet, knowing that someone might stumble across a post, that there might be an audience or there will be an audience, changes my relationship to my writing. It makes me sit up straight. Center myself. Try to be presentable.

I’m wise enough to understand that the world does not want to hear me whine, and I’m relieved enough by this realization to have left my journals behind shortly after registering on Blogger.

The discoveries and connections I’ve made with my readers and for myself are their own reward. None of us need require anything more.

This would be a "manifesto" if I were that kind of girl.

But I'm not.

The Place Where We Blog

Poynter Online discusses a forthcoming website of "place blogs" called Placeblogger.com. Find article here.

Wrecking Ball as Cover Girl

This week's Time Out Chicago covers demolition and preservation issues around the city. Find articles posted here.