DC Blogs Noted
Not much snark in the house tonight, as I recently lost a loved one (by which I mean: someone I love died, not that I misplaced someone in Safeway’s product section). At the same time, that means those of our fair community nattering on about what to buy don’t get a lot of sympathy from me. Basically, the message is: write about something meaningful, and if you can’t, consider it a good time to go search for meaning and cease writing until you find it. Reviews of TV series? Seriously, not meaningful. That said, here are some blogs I’ve read and “enjoyed” lately, as much as I can be said to be enjoying anything now.
Toddler Planet wonders about being a mother and an academic/professional/person with a meaningful and satisfying career and why those who are successful at it just make the rest of us want to puke (no, the puking part is my addition).
The Prince of Petworth likes a building and posts a picture, asking for your opinion, because your opinion is one he knows and trusts to be tasteful. Yeah, that’s why he’s asking. (Why is he asking?)
And Now, Anacostia compliments an Anacostia office building and contemplates changes to the streetscape.
On the cheerful death and dying front (What can I say? It’s on my mind.), The author of Dougintology,* a science I have never studied (there just aren’t that many guys named Doug out there anymore, I guess) says a sad farewell to Don LaFountaine.
There actually is someone in DC who likes “interesting” protestors. Of course, that someone uses the monicker [F]oxyMoron, so that probably should be a clue. But then I remember, as long as they don’t screw up my commute, I like the protestors too.
Speaking of commutes, the truly necessary superhero, MetroMan,** of IMetro, reviews the Metro Daily Service Report.
A different view of the city and Metro can be found here, at DC Outsider.
*Presumably named Doug, but you never know.
**He deals with Metro. I can only help you with Halloween costume tinfoil problems.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I’m sorry to hear about your loss.
I promise not to write about TV.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:56 am
I’m sorry for your loss, but not surprised that the blogosphere hasn’t suddenly bent to your will. You might want to think of all the times you’ve engaged in meaningless posts while perhaps some other blogger out there was suffering a similar loss. It’s not all about you all the time.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Seriously? Losing someone you love sucks, but the world is not about you. People write about what THEY want to write about. It has nothing to do with your life, and you have no business trying to dictate what people do based on how you’re feeling at the time. Frankly, you should be glad they find joy in writing about something since–as you’re finding out right now–the world can be a pretty joyless place.
And like EVERYTHING you’ve ever written is “meaningful”. Please.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Stimey: Thank you so much. Anon and George, thanks, I think. No, it’s not all about me. It’s about being living and dying, and trying to do their best. I’m sure many of my posts are deeply superficial, and I would never expect those posts to end of on anyone’s recommended lists. There are some great bloggers out there who routinely write meaning posts about everyday events and big crises (Why Mommy and Stranger’s Fever spring to mind). Only in my judgment, which only affects the DC blogging community on Thursdays. And if someone wants to blog about how to buy the perfect lipstick or perfect hubcap or whatever, of course they can. If they can do it an make it interesting, that’s the ticket.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am
“deeply superficial”?
September 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
First, I am sorry for your loss. These things are always very difficult.
I often find light, fluffy distractions give me brief moments of happiness when going through a hard time. Maybe that can help you?
But sometimes I lash out at innocent people…that’s cool too. Perhaps turn to the blogosphere for support instead of alienating us? In general, I have found the community very supportive.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:44 am
The bloggers in this community don’t need to be insulted by the suggestion that anything they write is not meaningful. Who appointed you judge, jury, and executioner in this? Sure, you have the authority to decide to which blogs you link here on DC Blogs, but that does not give you the right to tell anyone to “search for meaning and cease writing until you find it.” We’re not all bound to like what everyone else writes, but I can’t believe you would have the audacity to so harshly criticize anyone that doesn’t write with what you view to be “meaning.”
While I’m sorry for your loss, I could really not care less about what you believe to be meaningful. DC Blogs is about bringing together the bloggers in this area, and showcasing either the new or the outstanding. If you have opinions as to the quality of the writing of others, either post them on your own blog, or keep them to yourself.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Second everything here. I am sorry for your loss, but the whole purpose of a blog is to write about whatever THE AUTHOR wants, because it is HIS/HER space (so to speak). No one’s forcing you to read it, and we certainly don’t deserve to be chastised for our superficiality!? as a result of your pain. On the other hand, I don’t imagine this space on dcblogs was intended as yours to insult the entire blogging community- surely you could save that for your own personal blog, which we can then choose to read or not read.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I’m sorry.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:30 am
There’s fun snark and there’s not-fun snark. The line between the two is fine, as are most lines in life–meaningful and superficial. Your editorializing opening parry would be an example of the not-fun variety. I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt that your grief is infiltrating your snark (and how could it not? Loss is never on anyone’s top ten list of “Things I Want to Do or Experience Before I, Myself, Die”), but I have to agree with some of the others here: Lashing out at this community smacks of bitterness.
I don’t want to psychoanalyze your reasons, because only you really know what’s going on with you. Life is what it is. Occasionally, it’s deeper and more meaningful than other times. Mostly, it’s just a fucked up, messy mix we’re all trying to muddle through as best we can. How we choose to express that is indicative of our coping skills and gets us through to another day. This community is here for you in your loss. Respect that, please. You can still highlight meaningful posts without taking a cheap swipe at the rest of us.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
First, let me also offer my condolences on your loss.
Second, let me also pile on in regards to your comments. If DC Blogs consisted only of bloggers who wrote what you would likely consider “meaningful posts,” the live feed would only have about a couple dozen blogs listed. Personally, I can’t think of anything I’ve written that even comes close to being meaningful, nor am I really inclined to start.
If DC Blogs wants to do a spin-off site featuring only blogs that tackle serious issues and the existential questions of the universe or whatever, more power to you. But until then, don’t try and dictate content. I’m amazed you actually thought this would go over well.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:48 am
This is not new. You also told one of the bloggers you were “promoting” August 21 to “chill please” and “get a grip.” Seriously, I am sorry for your loss but maybe you should take a break from DCBlogs if this is a rough period of your life.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I am sorry for your loss, Foilwoman, but I feel you overstepped your bounds here. I thought the point of the contributing editor positions was to give us people to support KOB and pluck fresh entries for our consideration, not to provide an additional – and likely more widely read – personal blog site for the contributing editors. I think what you wrote would be perfectly legitimate on your own site, but not on DC Blogs. By writing what you did, you belittle people who are not as profound as you *think* they should be, and it taints DC Blogs, in my opinion.
Didn’t care for this.
I think I’ll go write about TV and shopping now, thanks.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Foilwoman, I’m so sorry for your loss.
I’ve addressed this is the past, but I disagree with the tone you use in your updates. Telling Mr. T to “get a grip,” and now attacking the community as a whole.
I do believe bloggers have the obligation to carefully consider what they’re putting out there – is it hurtful? Is it mean-spirited? What sort of effect will it have on the people being written about? How about the readers? But I don’t think ANYONE has the right to say what’s profound or meaningful, and some bloggers are just trying to have a little fun. Not everything in life needs to be the Deep Search for Truth.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Several others have summed it up quite perfectly, but I’m still going to put in my $.02 because I love the DC blogging community. I don’t come close liking everything I read about on DC based blogs, so I don’t read them. Every once and awhile some offensive content may warrant a comment or even a post, but it doesn’t warrant an attack on the entire community because of their perceived vapid-ness. I am very sorry for your loss, but please don’t look down your nose at the blogs in this community.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I quite understand your blog entry and peoples’ reactions to it. Losing someone you care about is a stunning event in anyone’s life. It’s been more than nine months since my Dad died and I’m still testy and sometimes weepy. Everything takes on more significance when you’re struggling to work through a big loss. You’re (I’m) looking for meaning in everything and usually don’t find it. The sad fact is that so many of us are insignificant in the big picture of things, so we blather on trying to become significant to somebody. Sometimes banality is what’s called for and other times heart-rending stories suit better. It’s a matter of balance and you’ll get it back again — some day. You have my condolences, sympathy and good wishes.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Forgive me, but when did DC Blogs turn into the search for greater meaning? And, Foilwoman, with all due respect to the entries you’ve chosen today, one of them is just a post with a picture of a building, asking what people think of it. (Seriously, no offense meant to Prince of Petworth – I’m just trying to bring attention to the hypocrisy of Foilwoman’s elitist view of blogging.) Some of my favorite bloggers post things that might be considered fluff in the big picture, but it’s just one facet of their skills. They bring a smile to my face.
I never saw DC Blogs as a place for “editors” to lecture the community on when and what they should write. Why not create your own blog community, Foilwoman? You could call it “DC Depth” and only bloggers who meet your criteria for meaningful writing could submit their work. You can be the arbiter of taste for whomever wants to bow to your definition of meaningful. Meanwhile I’lll stick to writing about whatever I want. Some days, that might be life or death, and some days it might be boobs and/or the boob tube.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Meaningful? This from a woman who uses her blog to dissect such topical and weighty issues as her kids and her failed relationships (incredibly original content, that), and to shamelessly ask for ‘donations’ when she’s low on cash? Please. If this is a bad time for you, perhaps you should have taken this week off as editor to better focus on your oh-so-meaningful life.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
While I’m sorry to hear about your loss, I think you are forgetting that it takes all kinds to make the world go round. Blogging about television or other “superficial” subjects can be harder than you think – check out http://sepinwall.blogspot.com or http://foragerblog.blogspot.com for a different perspective.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Heh. At one of the few Happy Hours I attended before I bagged the whole process some guy came up to me and after a few questions asked me what kind of “hits” I get. This is sort of, well, lame considering that asking that is like me asking a guy how big is dick is, but whatever, I told him. He dropped his drink. A few bloggers will remember this.
The next day, he wrote a post similar in rant to this one, about how people read all the wrong stuff – “dating bloggers who spill their cosmos on guys” etc… and I responded then, 2+ years ago with what I will respond with now:
don’t make judgments about content and what people should be reading. People read things that are well written, entertaining and informative. They also read things that are none of the above. It’s none of your business either way.
That whole post still cracks my shit up.
http://www.velvetindupont.com/?p=912
God it’s fun calling people assholes when they are assholes!
September 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Be careful what you wish for…
By tomorrow, DCBlogs will have at least 20 blogs to choose from that address this topic alone.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Wow. Guess it was a slow work day.
Gilahi: Deeply superficial, yeah, it’s ironic.
Lemmonex: I didn’t intend to attack the “community”, although obviously that’s how it came across, and for that I apologize. I should not have written “cease writing”. However, it’s written. I really meant that I was having trouble finding blogs to get excited about and that disconnect said more about me and my mood than anyone else. Of course, everyone can write about shoes until the cows come home, and everyone else can go read those posts. That’s just not what’s catching my eye (to the extent anything is, and that was the real .point I was trying, and clearly failing, to get across). Right now, the “meaning of life” stuff (a la Why Mommy) simply reads more true to me, and a post about a shopping triumph just tastes like ashes. More about me than anyone’s writing.
i-66, um, I was editorializing. If you don’t care about others’ opinions of blogs, then no need to read any top ten lists, but I believe there are still spaces for other continuing editors to do the DC Blogs Noted posts. It’s unpaid and the reward is the praise of your grateful readers . . . oh, whoops . . . but you can share your views. And no, I’m not judge, jury, and executioner to anyone. I’m simply expressing an opinion, ill-founded as it might be. When we publish, we accept that others may comment on our opinions. Sometimes, as here, those comments are largely negative. Publishing is not a guarantee of praise. DC Blogs Noted may be only blogs the editor likes, or it might be referring to someone one thinks is wacko but interesting, or it could note a disturbing or heartwarming trend. My view today may fall, for many people, into the wacko and unlikeable category. But if people are free to tell me that they don’t like what I wrote.
LivitLuvit: Thanks for the sympathy. Yes, we all write what we want on our blogs, and everyone is free to have an opinion about it. No one is guaranteed praise or adulation for writing something. It can get criticized. Having published, you (I) have to accept criticism. Sure, it’s the author’s blog. And someone else can say: “I don’t like it.” If they’re reasonably civil, no harm, no foul. I did not mean to “insult the entire blogging community.” I meant to express my preferences. My apologies for the perceived insult. The wording was bad, but the intention was not there.
Bozoette Mary: Thank you. You are very kind.
J.M. Tewksbury: Please see apologies above. I did not intend to lash out, although that is definitely what everyone has been reading, so I must apologize. Thanks for the sympathy.
Scotus: I don’t think the live feed should only consist of meaningful posts (see previous apologies for poor wording, above). I do find a lot of stuff hard to read now, but that’s just me. However, not everything published is noteworthy, and I was finding it hard to find noteworthy stuff. A lot of stuff written, here and everywhere on the Internet, just isn’t that noteworthy. My blog included. I just was looking for stuff addressing deeper issues, not finding it, and feeling the lack.
DCBloggerWannabe: Thank you for sharing your opinion.
Katie O’Dea: See apologies above. Thanks for sharing your opinion.
Shannon: Thanks for the sympathy and your opnion. See above for explanation/apology, whatever.
Carrie M: Thanks for the sympathy, and I really don’t look down at blogs in general or in DC in specific. There are many fine blogs out there. Obviously, we all have preferences — some people like reading dating blogs, religious blogs, or, heaven help us, knitting blogs. My personal range of reading experiences that do it for me right now is smaller than I would like it to be. See apologies above for poor wording.
Peg: Wow. That’s it. You’re a genius. And incredibly empathetic. And you’re right, of course. I wish I’d said that rather than what I did. Thanks for the sympathy and your thoughts.
Apparently Not Very Deep: Isn’t all of life a search for meaning? Is it wrong to search for it online? And yes, I expressed an opinion (editorializing, I think it’s called). This opinion could have been better and more charitably express, but yeah, coming up with five or ten blogs you want to recommend people read (whether because you agree with them or disagree with them or just read them with your jaw dropping) is an expression of opinion. I can’t really see the point of saying “here are some blogs that may interest you, but every other blog published is equally interesting or meaningful or full of good bargain shopping trips.” Each of us will have a different criteria for determining what we find interesting or meaningful or funny, so each person’s top picks will be different. Mine, this week, were hard to come up with, probably due to my own mood. My apologies for any offense (see above).
Spratley: Thanks for your opinion. I’ve had a donations button up for years, but have never asked anyone for cash. Many blogs have donations buttons. Mine does. I write about my life, meaningful or not. I do find children interesting, and mine adorable. I hope, that if you have children, now or in the future, that you feel the same way (it’s a nice way to feel). Bless your heart. (Someone wrote about what that means when a Texan says it to you. I’m not a Texan, but I mean it that way)
Mark: Thanks for your sympathy. It does take all kinds, and you should do your own list of recommendations. There are probably many (after reading these comments, probably most) people who would like your top picks better than mine. See above for apologies, etc.
Velvet: I’d like to your blog more often, except I assume everyone is already reading it. I did not mean to imply people are reading or writing the wrong stuff. Just that my current lens makes that stuff hard to read. It came out wrong, but I clicked the send button, so I’m leaving it up. No-one was singled out as being a “bad” or “meaningless” blogger although I get the feeling everyone thought I was writing about them. I wasn’t. I was writing about simply not enjoying anything I read and wanting something that matched my frame of mind. Obviously, that didn’t come across. See above for apology, etc.
LaCochran: Well, yeah.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Correction: My comment to Velvet should read: “I’d link” not “I’d like.” Please feel free to point out all other typos.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Correction: My comment to Velvet should read: “I’d link” not “I’d like.” Please feel free to point out all other typos.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Hey did anyone watch Palin’s speech last night?
September 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Foilwoman: Apology accepted.
Herb: I did. What did you think? I thought your did all right making her case, but she failed to persuade me to change my mind about how I’m voting and the direction I’d like our country to take.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Whoops! That should say, I thought SHE did all right making her class….
No clue where that “your” came from. Guess that’s what happens when you’re typing and yelling “Your proclivities, dear Dirty Bastard Cat, are annoying!” at the cat who thinks the keyboard is THE place to sit right this minute. Damn Cat!
September 4th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Her CASE. Her CASE. Making her case.
God. I give up. I’m going away now. Where is the delete button this damn thing!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Don’t feel like you need to link at all. Everytime I get linked from somewhere it seems to generate a little pack of assholes, and I have had enough of those over the years. My last linked post brought a comment that seems to indicate that my political opinion is worthless and all I’m good for is posts on dating. Uh…okay….last time I checked…my vote counts the same as everyone else’s in DC.
It’s your opinion and you have a right to it. The person I was referring to above has continued to attempt to steer people to read unknown but things that are in his opinion, much better than the other trash. But it’s sometimes the other trash that brings ‘em back. You may find a common thread in a thought from the lovely singer Sade, who says that her time between releases is haphazard because she only writes music when she has something to say. It’s an admirable quality.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
How about those Washington Redskins?
September 5th, 2008 at 1:31 am
I have two tiny bruises the size of teeth puncture marks on the inside of my left thigh. I don’t know how they got there.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:00 am
[...] 5, 2008 by Lemmonex Though some people feel it is our responsibility to be deep, profound and soul searching at all times, this is my blog [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
[...] petitely personifies terrific, and countless other citizens of the blogosphere who were chaffed by this suggestion that all bloggers need to shut their collective e-pie holes until we have something more meaningful [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I dunno. I would have to say that it’s your prerogative to voice your opinion, much as it’s any of ours to write about meaningless drivel or meaningful randomness, or anything else. And I know how losing someone makes you feel like everything else is rather trite in comparison. Sorry for your loss.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Sean: How about ‘em?
WashingtonCube: Wow. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa: Thanks for your sympathy and while I agree with your perspective, apparently that’s the minority. Yes, everything does seem pretty trite in comparison, and it’s really amazing how much of a perspective switch occurs. Thanks for your understanding as well.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
This whole thing made me go back to one of my favorite entries written by a local blogger back in 2005. I just re-read it because this concept that all writing needs to be meaningful reminded me of what she wrote. Put the words down on your blog for yourself and HAVE FUN. http://www.merujo.com/2005/07/pretense-and-pen.html
Not everything in this life has to have meaning. Sometimes stuff should just entertain or amuse you. Otherwise, you just start to pucker up into a big humorless prune.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:16 am
[...] light of this extremely insulting post today on DCBlogs.com, I’m going to go out of my way to write the most superficial, [...]