I am flattered and honored to have been nominated for a Thinking Blogger Award (Thank you, Ann). Which means I am now faced with the difficult task of selecting five blogs that "make me think". This is not an easy job for me because I find myself getting sucked into blogland late at night on a regular basis where there is an overwhelming range of blogs available for selection!
It has also gotten me to think about why I blog and why I get sucked into blogland so easily. My fascination with blogging started when we were in Japan and just starting our adoption journey (thanks to Jessica for the intro to blogging and the tutorials!) Before we even got our referral, I was obsessed with following the blogs of other adoptive families. It gave me hope that we would also one day get that life-changing phone call telling us that we had a daughter in Taiwan. I still feel a close connection to those families who shared their early adoption blogs and continue to enjoy new friendships with other bloggers.
It has also gotten me to think about why I blog and why I get sucked into blogland so easily. My fascination with blogging started when we were in Japan and just starting our adoption journey (thanks to Jessica for the intro to blogging and the tutorials!) Before we even got our referral, I was obsessed with following the blogs of other adoptive families. It gave me hope that we would also one day get that life-changing phone call telling us that we had a daughter in Taiwan. I still feel a close connection to those families who shared their early adoption blogs and continue to enjoy new friendships with other bloggers.
So here are my top five reasons for blogging:
1) Connection to friends and family
2) Voyeurism...yes, I will admit to being a voyeur. Fascinated by what motivates people, what connects us and what differentiate us, soaking up stories, and seeking out glimpses of authenticity.
3) The duality of public and private. Intimacy and distance. A mix of private journals, public/reality show presentations, dialogue between reader and writer the comment section. Interactive journaling and documentation of current day....what an interesting sociological phenomena and how wonderful to be a part of it.
4) Community. It is interesting to see the relationships that form through blogging. Many of the blogs I follow are written by people I have never met and yet I feel as if I know them through their blogs and through their comments. We have also been lucky to actually meet some of our blogging friends (even stayed with some in Taiwan....thanks Rhonda and Steve). Also sort of a sad commentary on our modern society and our search for community on-line with strangers. We should probably stop blogging and start a campaign to interact more with our neighbors..but that is a topic for another post.
1) Connection to friends and family
2) Voyeurism...yes, I will admit to being a voyeur. Fascinated by what motivates people, what connects us and what differentiate us, soaking up stories, and seeking out glimpses of authenticity.
3) The duality of public and private. Intimacy and distance. A mix of private journals, public/reality show presentations, dialogue between reader and writer the comment section. Interactive journaling and documentation of current day....what an interesting sociological phenomena and how wonderful to be a part of it.
4) Community. It is interesting to see the relationships that form through blogging. Many of the blogs I follow are written by people I have never met and yet I feel as if I know them through their blogs and through their comments. We have also been lucky to actually meet some of our blogging friends (even stayed with some in Taiwan....thanks Rhonda and Steve). Also sort of a sad commentary on our modern society and our search for community on-line with strangers. We should probably stop blogging and start a campaign to interact more with our neighbors..but that is a topic for another post.
5) Outlet...for creativity, for venting, and for documenting ( I confess that my poor children don't have official baby books so I am hoping this will work for now!)
And here are five blogs that make me think in five very different ways (click on the green text to view the blog):
1) soule mama inspiring, creative, she reminds me of my mama and my childhood
2) 3191 beautiful, dynamic and on-going visual blog between two photographers on opposite coasts documenting every morning (click on the months on the side to see more image groupings)
3) mark and susan's site, living in Taiwan, waiting to adopt, and documenting their life and travel in Asia
4) twice the rice Korean adult adoptee's blog, not always easy to read, but very honest, and always gives me something to think about
5) post secret a confessional blog session, hundreds of secrets shared in a very public way, fascinating, sad, funny, scary and very human
And here are five blogs that make me think in five very different ways (click on the green text to view the blog):
1) soule mama inspiring, creative, she reminds me of my mama and my childhood
2) 3191 beautiful, dynamic and on-going visual blog between two photographers on opposite coasts documenting every morning (click on the months on the side to see more image groupings)
3) mark and susan's site, living in Taiwan, waiting to adopt, and documenting their life and travel in Asia
4) twice the rice Korean adult adoptee's blog, not always easy to read, but very honest, and always gives me something to think about
5) post secret a confessional blog session, hundreds of secrets shared in a very public way, fascinating, sad, funny, scary and very human
Lucia,
Upon my return to the good ole' US of A, I find myself sucked into the commercialism and cookie cutterness that I so despise and was relieved to be distant from in Okinawa. Catching up on my blog reading, I decided to check out your recommended blogs and was overjoyed to read soule mama and post secret! Each encouraged me to think, to look inside myself, to smile & to reach beyond the norm to the unusual & unique. Your posts always give me pause and strike me with thier insight. Thanks to you for such influence! Here's to the one of a kind, the invented, the unique!
Miss ya!
Tiff
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