2 Page Blog Paper

It must have been over 5 years ago when I first found myself “blogging.” Prior to this I was writing in several journals, or some form of a journal, on and off. I could recall how some of these ancient notebooks looked. My first, or one of my first, was a hand-sized, light green hard covered book. I can only imagine what it contains. The years in which I turned to it in times of contemplation, angst, or mere boredom, were roughly during the ages of 12-14. These are primary years in embarrassing journal entries, but I’ll spare you the details. It wasn’t until high school that I began to use an online weblog instead of the traditional book.

I was introduced to Xanga.com by a former peer. In retrospect, it was the worst time to move on to a more public version of a journal. At that age, at least for me, it was no hold’s bar in terms of privacy. In other words, stoicism wasn’t anything particularly appealing for a sophomore in high school. My entries ranged from mundane events like how it rained and I couldn’t skateboard to surprisingly personal and epiphanic entries concerning my dad’s major heart surgery (coincidently my last Xanga entry).

Upon leaving Xanga, what I now consider blog training wheels, I moved on to MySpace. But not the empire we know MySpace as today, but the relatively small and exciting network it was in 2004. MySpace was a bit different than Xanga. It was free and more flexible. While Xanga was simple, stripped down and limited, MySpace gave me the opportunity to post pictures, list my interests, and still write entries. Granted, I didn’t miraculously learn to write more maturely, nor did I hold back from cathartic ramblings on my sappy, unproductive life. However, it was rewarding when I finally did learn to tone down some of my entries and express them in a more adult manner. In short, I’ve had an ongoing involvement with blogs way before this class.

Looking back on the semester, it is easy to see which works we did I took special interest in and which works, well, I couldn’t stand. The blog, in a twisted, almost Cronenbergian way, became me. At the risk of sounding dramatic, let me defend thyself. Teach anyone to use a blog such as Blogspot, tell them to write about anything current, passed, and coming soon, and check back in a month. If this person wrote daily, it is much like a 30 page story. Fragmented, sure, but revealing, regardless of their intentions.

The practicality of the blog is extraordinary to say the least. Now, without having to spend money, anyone could broadcast their voice to an audience basically unlimited. I want to know when John Frusciante’s next album is coming out: johnfrusciante.com. I could also, if my heart desired, read about a scale in 5’s that he recommends to musicians. I could read up on David Byrne on his blog, and find out merely everything important that happened in and to New York City on Gothamist.com.

Lethargy in Motion started pretty ambiguously. Something sparked, ever so slightly, in my head. As I explained on the blog itself not so long ago (http://lethargyinmotion.blogspot.com/2008/11/onward.html), this blog was a tongue in cheek response to overtly dramatic, and therefore annoying, activists. But what surprises me is its ability to voice my opinions and broadcast my concerns in a subtle enough matter, avoiding didacticism, but achieving coherence. The one thing I might have done differently, in retrospect, is maybe be more visual in my attempts to inform or question. Lethargy in Motion is the ship and I’m the captain, the net’s the entries and the audience the fish.