For several years now, Pam has argued that weblogs are narcissistic exercises: overwrought public navel-gazing. Mac and I have defended them as a valid means of self-expression. We agreed to disagree.

Now, though, Pam's position has softened. She's seen that there's more to weblogs than mere geekery. After reading Lisa's weblog, she's come to understand that a weblog is what you make it.

And so, our heroine finds herself with a weblog of her own, one in which she has posted five entries in three days, one about which she's e-mailing her geeky friends for help.

I am pleased to see this. As I've said before, I believe everyone has something to say, a story to tell, and weblogs are the perfect medium for this sort of expression. They're self-publishing in a the digital age: micro-magazines of a sort, most of which have very limited target audiences (family and friends). Weblogs seem to me to be one of the internet's killer apps (along with such things as e-mail and eBay).

Not only has Pam started her own weblog, but Jeremy's dormant realm has begun to rumble, has in fact erupted. This activity isn't any of Jeremy's doing, though; Jenn's been hard at work posting photos of children and friends and doomed cats.

I read many weblogs. And while I enjoy finding new weblogs from strangers — Abada Abada and Stumptown Confidential are my two most recent discoveries — I most enjoy reading my friends.

• And So It Goes — It seems to me that Denise is beginning to find a voice and, as a result, a readership. Last week was particularly good, as she found time to post every day. And every entry was fun! Denise is a good writer with a sharp self-deprecating wit. I think she should write some entries about China.
• Babe Watch — Pam's nascent weblog. Go. Read. Comment. Encourage her to not throw away memorabilia from her own childhood.
• Chez Briscoe — Lisa has done an amazing job of posting photos of the once-jaundiced Albert, tracking his adventures as he learns to eat (or not eat) all manner of debris.
• Discolor Online — Nicole can write. And when she finds herself filled with righteous anger, you had better hope you're not in her path! She's begun to keep a recipe page that threatens to make me fatter than I already am.
• Gingerich Family — The days of Jeremy's twice-yearly postings seem to be gone. Jennnifer's in charge now, and she means to post often! Four entries in the past four days seem to indicate she's serious about this, too. It'll be fun to be able to link to more photos of Hank and Scout, my two favorite kids.
• Jethro's World — Even my brother, Jeff, has caught the weblogging bug. I think that, like Pam, he used to be skeptical of weblogs as a medium, but the truth is he read mine every day. And eventually he realized that it would be a fine tool for sharing his life with Steph's distant family.
• Minutus — Mac has a photoblog that we all wish he'd update more often. More updates, Mac! More updates!
• Rhetorical Frippery — Lynn's writing reminds me of my own. She's nostalgic and verbose, just as I am, but what's better is that she's funny. I wish she had time to post more often, but I know she's busy.
• Toads-in-the-Hole — Joel and Aimee erected their weblog so they could keep in touch while they're banished to the nether regions of South Dakota. Until they've finished serving time for their crimes, their long (and funny) posts are all we can expect.
• We Merry Three — I've only met Matt, Kaylene, and Owen twice, but I've been following their weblog adventures for nearly a year. Owen — a.k.a. Goldilocks — is cute as a bug. I never feel so much a voyeur as when I read this weblog.
• In memoriam: Dishpan Dribble — I'm not convinced that Tammy's gone for good. I'll admit she's been gone longer than I expected, but I still think she'll return.

These are merely the weblogs of the people I know in Real Life. Notice that many of them have a strong theme of parenthood in them. Parenting seems to spark the urge to share. There are A-list webloggers who share their parenting experience — dooce, Mimi Smartypants (this last is a damn funny weblog, by the way) — but for me it's just as fun to read Lisa, Denise, Nicole, Jenn, Pam, Jeff, and even Tammy.

What one thing do each of the weblogs I listed have in common? They don't update frequently enough! Write more, my friends, write more. (And never delete your weblog. At the very least, archive your entries so that years from now your children can read them. I'm in complete earnest when I say that twenty or thirty years from now, these records will be valuable pieces of family history.)

I'm anxious for Kristin to start a weblog proper, and for Dana (sorry, no link yet) to make hers public, and for others of you to make the leap. I can envision a network of friends, interconnected not just in meatspace, but in cyberspace, a community of weblogs. It's a fun possibility.

Now if only we can convince Dave to start a weblog, then hell really will have frozen over.

On this day at foldedspace.org

2003 — Roots   In which my roots in this community are deep, but that doesn't prevent me from longing to live elsewhere.

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