What's a blog?

Jean (Mrs. Goldfine to you) says that if the center is directing people here to figure out whether this is a course they might like to take, I have to define a 'blog.'

But does she have any suggestions for how I might proceed? Is she even around to crack the whip? Not hardly.

I googled 'what is a blog'--and google told me that 'what,' 'is,' and 'a' are so common, it didn't even use them in the search. O-kay! So I googled 'blog':

This was the first result:

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly.
www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html -

Pretty dry.

I say: It can be a journal, it can be a soapbox, it can be a pew to pray from, a quiet clearing in the woods to meditate in. You can tell jokes, complain, hassle those who deserve it, describe your day, your philosophy, your plans, your past, your home decor, your pets, your reading, your friends or enemies, triumphs or tragedies. It can be anonymous or you can set your name on top in huge letters.

All of these things are up to you.

My job is to get you started and help you with your writing if you want that or to offer reactions to your blog or simply to be a silent audience. Again, what I do is your call.

So, what's a blog? It's a place on the internet to post your words and thoughts. What's a post? Well, this is a post. I've made a point of not writing institutionalese--instead I've let my own voice sound through my written words, which is what this course and a blog can offer you a chance to do.

Some blogs I like

Of course, my personal favorite blog is
http://www.emcc.edu/faculty/jgoldfine where our motto is: 'Blogging Without Blushing Since 2003.' A few others I sometimes look at(and there are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs):

*www.tonywoodlief.com

*www.lileks.com/bleats/

*http://civpro.blogs.com/civil_procedure/weblogs/index.html

*http://amylovesbooks.blogspot.com

*http://jazzcanary.blogspot.com

*http://sgtstryker.com./

These might be good models for approaches, ideas, feeling, style, attitude for beginning blog writers.

You'll find a zillion more once you start looking.

Photo problem solved, sort of...

As anyone can see, I kinda do have photos posted, but the software interface is fairly nightmarish. Still, all comers can profit by carefully examining my cute dogs' pix, even if showing students how to post their own photos will have me grinding my teeth. Perhaps, having seen these photos, the students will be satisfied and not need to post their own. After the best, who needs the rest?

chloe hiding 

scoot & lambie 

Infuriating

Having one of those typical computer moments: trying to figure out how to use blogger to post photos, so I won't look like a computer dub in front of my new blogging students. I go to the blogspot site and they send me to another site where I create a user name and password and download some free photo-sharing software. So far so good, even though I'm pretty much dumped on my own resources at that point. Okay, I go to my start menu, find the new program, go to the website, try to log on--and am told 'no such number, no such zone' to quote Elvis. In other words, I don't exist for the software people.

Do I go back and do the whole process again? Is it just too soon for me to show on their servers? Is there someone nearby I can strangle? Why can't this darned stuff work slick instead of clunky?

Some preliminaries, an introduction

'You Blog!' That's what I originally wanted to call the course, but cooler heads prevailed. Here's the original course description:

Yes, you--putting a toe into the Ocean of Blog. You'll visit some personal web logs on line and then create your own, using templates on a free site--that's the easy part. The rest is figuring out what things you want to write and how best to deal with your subjects. The instructor is no computer genius, but he can help with strategies for creating light, personal sketches and journal entries and generally starting you on your first blog.


I was shooting for something informative, but non-institutional. Something that might make the reader smile, might make the reader slow down--something that might make the reader say: "Too weird for me." Or: "Interesting...."

In other words, the description was what the real estate agents call a qualifier. If it didn't work for you, you probably would never arrive at the website.

And this website? More of the same. If the tone and style and content don't work for you, probably the course won't.