On Blogging

Having graduated more than a month ago--gosh, has it been that long already--I figured it was about time for me to start a blog. For my first post, I decided to write about blogging; a bit of metacommentary which I'm sure I'm not first wise guy to decide to do, but a nice introductory note nonetheless.

I'll begin with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=livzJTIWlmY. I'm excited to join this "micro-publishing platform" community, but am not sure how my efforts will turn out. Regardless, an important aspect of this blog for me, one that is unfortunately omitted from Seth Godin's laudatory endorsement of blogging, is the ability to stay in touch with numerous friends, simultaneously and at the convenience of each. It's not as personal as face-to-face conversation, sure, but when you're spread out across the country, busy with work or a degree or whatever else, face-to-face conversation isn't exactly an option. (There's always Skype, but I don't know if that actually qualifies as face-to-face.) Anyway, my friends will be able to check up on what I'm doing and thinking, and that's just another benefit I see in blogging, part of why I'm starting this.

As for the focus of this blog, my interest in urban planning will naturally dominate, but I'll feel free to discuss other things and you should feel free to read about them. Don't be surprised if Sherlock Holmes, the Beatles, or movies earn their own posts, (particularly if a movie comes out about Sherlock Holmes investigating an incident that happened to the Beatles, a sure sci-fi mystery thriller).

More importantly (for me, at least) than what I'll write about is the fact that I'll be writing something, something private and public at the same time. Perhaps I'm taking on this endeavor to open myself up--turn the flashlight at my thoughts, so to speak--for other people to see. After all, a good blog--if I may be so bold as to judge with any authority the quality of blogs--strikes a good balance between being private and public. It should reveal the inner thoughts of the writer and yet be accessible to a wide audience, friend, acquaintance, and stranger alike. Or not necessarily. As Godin says, a blog can be for everyone, for anyone, or for no one but the writer and the writer's cat.

So, as I embark on this journey known as a blog, and I invite you to watch me take it, I'll be searching for "the humility that comes from writing it." I'll try to keep with it regularly, but if I don't, then you can assume it's from lack of available time rather than of interest. We'll see where this takes me. Enjoy.