Blog is the New Black

Every time I blink these days, it seems a friend or acquaintance has created a blog. Whether it be a blog about meat, a blog about a summer in Ghana, or a blog about fashion, everyone's got something to say. And this isn't a phenomenon striking a small literary group in Boston--no, this new craze is spreading across the globe.

Celebrities like Kanye West and Michael Ian Black update their blogs daily, while writers like Tao Lin and Felicia Sullivan have built a strong reader base thanks to blogging. This somewhat indulgent NY Times Magazine piece attempts to break down the public's fascination with the lives and musings of complete strangers.

Is it that we're a generation obsessed with...ourselves? Or is it just that we're so excited to have a platform where we can broadcast our opinions to the world (ostensibly), no rejections or censors or boundaries to hold us back?

We breached the blogging discussion at a party I attended several weeks ago. A few friends expressed the sentiment that they wanted to start blogs of their own, but were "afraid people would read it." One friend even went so far as to start a blog, and then delete it when she thought too many people were reading it. I found this fascinating. I can understand fearing the implications if you were to blog about your personal life à la Emily Gould, but I think that as long as you're savvy enough to know where to draw the line, a blog about yourself can actually be pretty interesting. I myself subscribe to several blogs written by people I have never met because I am intrigued by what they have to say. In fact, I would love to start my own blog, but the reason I don't is I'm afraid people WON'T want to read what I have to say. So for now, I'll stick to the illustrious Fringe blog.

Oh, and Vernacular, a new blog written by Emerson students and alumni (myself included) about the Boston literary scene and beyond. Be sure to check it out. And, as always, thanks for reading.