Two or three years ago a person who blogged was a bit of an abstract character. Someone distant, barely real and probably, definitely desperately lonely. Today the social scorn for the practice of blogging is felt less acutely.
For Example:
Last week was the final week of classes for the semester. Thursday saw the last day of MC271, a course titled "Constitutionalism and Democracy" taught by a mildly complacent, free-marketeer Professor who attached a link to his personal blog on the class syllabus.
Thursday, when my Prof brought the final class to an end I rushed out of the room to urine in the bathroom. As my pee flowed out with great relief under the yellowy fluorescent lights of the washroom, I became aware of a wistful sense of regret—I didn't leave my professor with a closure comment.
I don't mean the "have a good summer, Professor" kind of bullshit comment. I felt I owed him something more substantive. This was the last class I would take with the guy and I had been in touch with him since freshman year using him as a source for articles in the student paper and hearing his lectures in Wilson Hall.
Lucky for me, all was not lost. As I entered the last leg of my urinary stretch the Professor marched into the bathroom and waited disinterestedly next to my urinal. Giving a cautious glance in his direction I looked to verify that it was indeed him. Sure enough it was. But what to say? The etiquette for semester-ending closure comments is different in a bathroom environment.
Normally I'd say something like "Really enjoyed the class."
He'd say, "Pleasure having you."
And that'd be the end of it. But could I really pull off "Really enjoyed the class" while shaking off the remaining vestiges of urine from myself? This seemed off.
As alternative conversation pieces raced through my head, I remembered his blog. Could that work? To think of it, his blog sucked. He only updated it twice over the semester. There's no way he expected students to actually look at it. I myself felt pretty embarrassed that I actually took the time to read it but I suppose we all fall prey to unlikely web destinations from time to time. Aw, Hell.
"Haven't updated the ol' blog in awhile," I said expectantly.
What an ass I am. As if mentioning his blog wasn't terrible enough, it was "the ol' blog."
"Have you read it?" he sounded surprised.
"Yeah, some interesting stuff on urban growth, property taxes and [blah, blah, blah]" I said while ripping off a square of paper towel.
"Didn't have the time to post much on it this year," he said while taking his turn at the urinal.
At this point my hands were dry and I didn't feel like loitering around purposelessly.
"Well... have a good one," I said.
"Take care, John." [Door creaks and slams]
I bring this brief happenstance to light only to support my claim about blogging's mixed acceptance in today's world. It was painful bringing up his blog but not painful enough to prevent me from doing so. A few years ago I would have never dared to make reference to what used to seem like a man's self-gratifying escape into pointless online nothingness.
Blogs are a bit more credible now, almost cute. Asking someone about their blog is more and more similar to asking them about legitimate things like weekend golf scores and sick family members.
I guess I'm trying to say that I'm aware that with this first post I am opening myself up to being tarred with the same brush as every other blogger. And I don't know. Maybe you don't even harbor any strong opinions on the matter. It doesn't really matter. I just hope you all realize that I am not getting carried away in this narcissistic, voice-of-god, 4 a.m.-posting world of blogging. I enter this practice a chastened young man.
2 comments:
When I saw the link on your website, I tried to figure out what you meant by gored telephone... go red telephone is much better.
Yeah, gored telephone isn't bad either though.
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