Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Ahh..the therapy of blogging.

[WARNING: this post may a get a little sentimental.]

 I am a pretty big advocate of the blogging-is-separate-from-journalism camp, but over the past few days, I have realized one way in which blogging may be better, believe it or not.

 Now, I do not quite know how to preface this, because an outpouring of sympathy is by no means what I want or need. This past weekend wasn’t the best. A close friend of mine from the University of Chicago died in a car accident Saturday night. Seems unrelated, but here’s what it made me realize about BLOGS:

 1. They are supportive and therapeutic: whether it is through supportive comments or just going on the site to read everyone else’s posts (which I have done about 29583723 times in the past few days). I would absolutely not go to a highly journalistic news website to cheer me up or find support.

2.  They let you express how you feel. I can’t pretend that I am giddy and hyper and happy right now, so I can’t right a post that sounds giddy and hyper and happy (which, unfortunately, I think I usually do—yikes). Blogs can be about anything and express whatever emotion they want at the time. News cannot.           

So, while I still stand that blogging and journalism are completely separate entities, I have a new respect for blogging. I feel like in all our discussions we have felt a need to make one ‘good’ and the other ‘bad,’ but really, that is not the case. Blogging and journalism serve different social functions, and right now, I’ve turned to blogging.

 Thanks for keeping this so entertaining, everybody!                                             

1 comment:

  1. Elle, I'm sorry about your friend. I am glad that you are finding ways to stay positive and find comfort during such a hard time. I will keep you and your friend's family in my thoughts.

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