Five Months and Still Plain Jane
I noticed today that I began this blog in April. The Puter Ho sat me up with MovableType and a basic template. All along I've planned to change it and never have gotten around to it. I'm so ashamed.
You see, I have big plans. I already have the way it should look worked out, but I want more. I want it to be interactive. Puter Ho says I want it to be dynamic, which by the way, has nothing to do with how cool will look, but how it will work. He'll help me with that once I get it all put together. So what is the hold up?
Well, you see, I read a number of personal blogs, and over time I've seen them change. I've watched pink frou frou go to industrial grey. Urban change to Victorian. I find I form a picture in my head of the author as much from the look of the blog as from the text, so it bothers me when it changes. People with plain templates like me suddenly come up with some cutesy design and I think to myself, "Oh my God, this person is a dork!" It totally changes the image of that person in my mind.
Maybe plain is best. Maybe I should add the features I want and forget the rest. After all, and this is a pet peeve of mine, some of the things people call comments are just plain stupid. It all gets to be a bit much. Of course, I flatter myself thinking it matters. If I want hits, I should just write about 24 and nicotine cocktails. I go way up the list on Google when I do that. But that's not what I really want.
So what do I want? And this is an important question. Why blog? For attention? Noooo. To change the world? HA! To share? Well yeah, but honestly not very many people are reading this. I think it is more to simply express myself. And hopefully not in a whiney way. Maybe it's not so much to cause the reader to think as to make myself think.
So when I put up the sepia smoking nude flappers, will I be more interesting? Or just a dork?
Comments
Maslow created his famous "hierarchy of needs" to try to explain what drives people. His analysis was:
1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
2) Safety/security: out of danger;
3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.
5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
7) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and
8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.
I think what drives many to write in their blogs can be any of the steps from three through eight. It may be a need to be like their friends, to acheive esteem and praise, to collect thoughts and analyze them, to create art, to self-fulfill or to help others fulfill. Given this wide range of possible reasons to write I don't think you can put a single label on why people write and I believe in fact that their motivations can overlap and change from day to day. Very few of us on here are worrying anymore about our safety or the source of our next meal, the base of the hierarchy is well covered for all of us. But beyond that, it can be difficult to tell what the motivations are for our writing.
P.S. I think the appearance of our site is another means of expression and not really just "dorky". Many have to delay what they want to do because they lack the time or knowledge to address astetic concerns but they get to them when they can. You should make your weblog look the way you want.
Posted by: John | September 18, 2003 3:22 PM
The reason anyone blogs and the reasons people read those blogs are often different. You can't change what we want, so make this personal cyberspace of yours what YOU want. Whatever boils your tea, blows your skirt up, floats your boat, gets your goat and puts a smile on your face.
I've come here a few times for the words. I'll pop up now and then in the future to read the words. The rest is icing on the cake.
Posted by: Texas T-Bone | September 18, 2003 3:47 PM
Rockelle, John, I hate to break it to you guys, but ya'll are dorks. But, dont get me wrong, it would not make you the way you are and i like the way you are. I absolutely love your blog, it always puts a smile on my face. Keep up the good work. =)
Posted by: Chelsea | September 18, 2003 8:01 PM