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Sharing stories

There’s been a great deal of interesting and intelligent debate — as well as some yelling, screaming and posturing of course — about woman and blogs as of late. In one situation, some “mommy” bloggers were put under the academic microscope, while in others, the mainstream media snickered at mothers and their interest in blogging and, strangely, pronounced that women didn’t blog, only men.

People I know who don’t read my blog often ask me what it’s about, and why do I blog. But since you’re here, you likely already have a good understanding of the answer to those two questions. What it really comes down to is that blogging allows me to observe the human experience — in ways that I will never experience personally. There is simply no way that I can experience everything in my life. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to soak it up and explore it a bit anyhow. And I think that’s why so many bloggers are avid blog readers. It’s all about sharing stories. Giving stories a voice.

And I’m endlessly fascinated by how we each perceive our experience here on earth. From the minutia of everyday life as shared by a stay-at-home mother who is raising six children and the down-right-real notes from a recently laid-off professional to more philosophical, thought-provoking what-am-I-doing-here posts that include someone who’s been fighting cancer along with social injustices. That, and just pure entertainment value, of course.

You might recall me telling you that I signed on as a writer with the Life As A Human e-zine. With only two months under its belt, the team anticipates that the site will hit more than 100,000 page views for March alone. And I’m definitely one of those page viewers! Although I can’t claim to have read every single post, I rarely miss a day of checking-in and reading at least one.

And in this spirit of sharing stories, I thought I’d share a few of my favourites with you:

Grandkids: You just have to wait
I’ve been really enjoying the writing of Terry Hume. He’s a heavy duty mechanic with a knack for humorous writing. Try out this post and see if you laugh like I do!

Why I’m Really Running this Marathon
Victoria Klassen shares her grief and how it lives on within her. Try out this post and see if you don’t have tears streaming down your face like I did.

Coming Out: Revealing Secret Passions
Now that I’ve led you to laughter and tears, I’ll leave you feeling inspired! Schmutzie shares how it feels to finally take ownership of the label “writer.”

If you’ve got a post still ringing in your ears or scratching at your heart that you’d like to share, please leave a link in the comments so we can all enjoy it and add a new blogger to our reading.

Comments

  1. Thanks for including me here Julie! I have to admit that I really enjoy blogging. It has been a positive and healthy outlet for me. But even more than that I am surprised by how much I get from reading other blogs. It’s startling actually. Perhaps I’m a voyeur at heart, but I prefer to think of it as a way to connect outside of the box. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, and even yelled because of posts that I’ve read. Through it all I’ve connected to others. It’s an amazing opportunity. I’m not sure what it says about us that we do this, but I like to think it makes us thoughtful individuals. We just do it with words.

  2. I saw Margaret Wente interviewed on Canada AM before I had a chance to read her article “Why are bloggers male?”. Strangely enough, I felt embarrassed for her. It’s the same feeling I get when watching someone who really can’t sing performing on Canadian Idol. With her current attitude, she’s missing out on all the joy, creativity & wisdom to be found in the blogging communities. Ah well, her loss.

    On another note and speaking of joy & creativity, here’s one of my favourite posts from Paris Atelier “Let’s Dance”: http://parisatelier.blogspot.com/2009/07/lets-dance.html

    Enjoy!
    Tatiana

  3. @Christine – I’ve been really loving your blog. It really feels like a nice, calm place to exchange thougtful views with like-minded friends. I treat myself to it anytime I’m feeling too stressed or distracted.

    @Tatiana – Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing a favourite post! I nearly melted looking at the beautiful images on “Let’s Dance” — I danced for more than a decade and still have a bag of my pointe shoes hidden somewhere in my house. I really appreciate the introduction to Paris Atelier as well as to your own blog Renaissance Daze. They are both full of joy and creativity!

  4. wow, hadn’t guessed Life as a Human had that much traffic. It’s a whole network hub.

  5. Thanks for sharing these posts, I really enjoyed them – and congrats and being part of such a great ezine!

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