Thursday, May 1, 2008

 

Time for some closing comments and observations regarding blogging and memoir.

 

Last month, I published a post asking my readers the question, Why Do We Blog?  The responses ranged from humorous to poignant, and I'd like to share some of them here.

 

From Maggie, dammit, an amazing blogger and freelance writer:

 

I blog to escape, to connect, and to find my voice.  But mostly? To procrastinate.

 

From kathyescobar, a pastor at an emergent cohort and insightful commentator concerning all things spiritual:

 

“why am i doing this?” i have been writing for the refuge blog for 2 years but it is definitely a shared thing and not really a chance to establish a strong voice. that’s why i decided to launch the carnival in my head (that’s what it feels like) in january and it’s been pretty fun and challenging and interesting in all kinds of ways. i committed myself to it for 1 year and that’s it for now, just to see what it felt like to have a venue to say some of my crazy thoughts about church/community/relationships/life, things that matter to me. sometimes it’s hard, i feel kind of vulnerable, stupid. the guy you quoted at the top of this post sure does think so, too, hahhaha. but what’s been so interesting is how much hope & challenge & good thoughts have come from my time in blog-land. for the past 2 1/2 years i have found many others asking the same questions, trying new things, wondering, wandering, dreaming, and it is so fun, we have really become friends. some of us have had a chance to meet in person at different events and there’s just this lovely connection that has happened through this crazy thing out here called the blogosphere. anyway, getting forward to getting to know you in the months to come!

 

From suburbanlife, a painter and writer with wisdom to match her years:

 

Why do I blog?  I can no longer draw and paint my life-long loved ways of expressing my ideas and opinions. Also, i want a record of my ruminations for the younger generation of my family. Putting my blurbs in a public forum makes me assess the degree of honesty and candour, and yes, self-revelation i am willing to indulge in. Essentially we are private most of our lives, even with intimates. let them also read between our lines for a truth they might recognize as universal, beyond the personal. i want for any reader to recognize some of their own wants, passions, thoughts, fears, joys in my bits and pieces, and take from my example permission for themselves to want to be heard. I suspect we all want to know we are not alone.

 

And this from nate, a father and fellow spiritual seeker:

 

The subjectivity of truth in the blog world while slightly irritating, can be highly entertaining. Why do I blog?  I started blogging because 1) I like being heard, 2) After being out of school for a year I felt myself getting stupid and saw this as a way for intellectual accountability, 3) I foresaw a huge, monumental Philosophical/Spiritual world view switch coming (still hasn’t happened completely, but probably will) and saw this blog as an easy way accustoming my friends so that they don’t freak out once it happens, and 4) it provides a great community. i.e. the prayer you offered for my Gabs (who is doing great!) and the prayers I have offered for you in quitting smoking (been there done that–kind of).  Maybe I just can’t resist the ethos of pop culture?

 

Some of my concerns and comments about blogging are contained in the post, so click here to read the post in its entirety.  But let me say briefly that blogging has become a passion for me.  In the two months since I began my blog, I've met some really interesting people, engaged in some humorous, honest and heartbreaking conversations, and have written more than I ever have.  Sure, some of my posts are just random thoughts, spilled out spur-of-the-moment, but others took some time - especially where spiritual and deeply personal things are concerned.  Surprisingly, some of my best memoir-style posts are about my weight loss surgery; digging up those things and scrounging my brain for details and emotions has got me pondering a manuscript-length memoir about my experiences with gastric bypass surgery.  I think I'll call it Fat Dad.  Ha! 

 

During the course of this class, I had the honor of getting one of my posts published by Indie Bloggers, a website dedicated to emerging writers, and I've also submitted a short story and some creative non-fiction to Slice, a fairly new literary journal that is published quarterly. 

 

And regarding memoir, I read several memorable and relevant ones in recent weeks, including . . . 

 

Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

 

 

Synopsis: "Julia Scheeres stumbles across these signs along the side of a cornfield while out biking with her adopted brother, David. It's the mid-1980s, they're sixteen years old and have just moved to rural Indiana, a landscape of cottonwood trees and trailer parks-and a racism neither of them is prepared for. While Julia is white, her close relationship with David, who is black, makes them both outcasts. At home, a distant mother-more involved with her church's missionaries than with her own children-and a violent father only compound their problems. When the day comes that high-school hormones, bullying, and a deep-seated restlessness prove too much to bear, the parents send Julia and David to the Dominican Republic-to a reform school there.

 

"In this riveting memoir, first-time author Scheeres takes us with her from the Midwest to a place beyond our imagining. Surrounded by natural beauty, the Escuela Caribe is governed by a disciplinary regime that demands its teens repent for their sins under boot-camp conditions. Julia and David's determination to make it through with heart and soul intact is told here with immediacy, candor, sparkling humor, and not a note of malice."

 

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

 

 

Synopsis: "Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view—a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Before meth, Sheff's son Nic was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs, the denial (by both child and parents), the three A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the attempts at rehab, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for each other too, lest they become addicted to addiction. Meth is the fastest-growing drug in the United States, as well as the most addictive and the most dangerous—wreaking permanent brain damage faster than any other readily available drug. It has invaded every region and demographic in America. This book is the first that treats meth and its impact in depth. But it is not just about meth. Nic's addiction has wrought the same damage that any addiction will wreak. His story, and his father's, are those of any family that contains an addict—and one in three American families does."

 

And Name All the Animals by Alison Smith

 

 

Synopsis: "A luminous, true story, Name All the Animals is an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and of a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss. As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name, Alroy. But when Alison was fifteen, she woke one day to learn that Roy, eighteen, was dead.

 

"Heartbreaking but hopeful, this extraordinary memoir explores the after-math of Roy's death: his parents' enduring romance, the faith of a deeply religious community, and the excitement and anguish of Alison's first love -- a taboo relationship that opens up a world beyond the death of her brother."

 

 

Jesus Land, in particular, captivated me and kept me awake when I should have been sleeping and in the break room when I should have been out of the floor working.  I blogged about the book here.

 

All this blogging has also got me considering ways to create a community blog or website for IPFW students who run their own blogs.  (Let's talk about this, Dr. Amidon.  We'll do lunch when all this is over . . . ) 

 

Being back in a writing mood has made my venture into Blogland worth all the hours spend shaping my blog and interacting with other writers.  It's been a while since I felt the unbridled necessity to sit and type and make it good.  In the end, that's what all this has been about.

 

My blog is still active and growing, so I invite you to come over and join in the conversation.

 

________________________________________________

 

I have been having a blast working on my new blog, found at http://thecheekofgod.wordpress.com  Man, blogging is a full-time job!  I've spent countless hours not only working on my own blog - both writing and maintaining - but also browsing the vast blogosphere and meeting new bloggers. 

 

I hope you're enjoying reading my blog.  I'd appreciate your comments.

 

Brian

 

_______________________________________________

 

I figured it was time for an update . . . 

 

First, let me say that it's been a pleasure to peruse all the pages on this site.  I have visited many of the blogs and commented where I felt a need to contribute.  Keep up the great work everyone.

 

Speaking of blogs . . .

 

My memoir has, for the time being, become an online "living memoir" in the form of a new blog I've begun.  You can find it at www.thecheekofgod.wordpress.com

 

I decided to go with a blog for a couple of reasons:

 

1) I wanted the thoughts I shared about my spiritual life to be as relevant to "now" as possible.  As I sat down to write a "hard" edition of my memoir, I found that there were so many insights and reflections I wanted to share about what was going on in my life today that I kept getting sidetracked.  So, on my blog, there is room for both the present and the past.

 

2) Creating and maintaining a blog takes time and attention on a daily basis.  Basically, by blogging, I'm forcing myself to reflect and contribute daily so the content stays fresh. 

 

To best understand where I'm going, just visit my blog and join in the conversation. 

 

There are two resources that have pushed me in the blogging direction:

 

 

1) Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh opened my eyes to the ways a blog could help me acheive my goals in writing about my life.  There are tips galore and his style of presenting the material is very inviting and poignant.  If you want to take your blogging seriously, you need to check out this book.

 

 

2) Old Friend from Far Away is the brand new book about memoir by Natalie Goldberg, author of the classic Writing Down the Bones.  It contains many prompts for getting your memoir writing jumpstarted.  It's not so much a how-to as a just-do-it type of book.  At this stage, it is just what I needed.  I am out of practice writing this sort of material, and this book helps me get back in the pool. 

 

Again, I invite you to check out my blog and perhaps even subscribe to it via one of the many RSS readers, or by email.  And please feel free to comment on any post.  I welcome your insights and encouragement.

 

Peace!

 

Brian

 

 

_______________________________________ 

 

 

 

Hello fellow researchers.  My name is Brian Thomas, and I haven't met many of you since I am taking this class independently.  I began this class a couple semesters ago but needed to put it off, after completing much of the groundwork, due to a job/shift change.  I'm glad to be back at the task of working on my project.

 

Speaking of which . . .

 

I am working on writing a spiritual memoir.  My spiritual journey has been an interesting one, to say the least, and I feel it's time to put some of my experiences down on paper.  I'm writing this mostly because I've changed a lot in recent years, so much so that old friends just don't seem to understand how I've gotten to where I am today.  Distance and time can do that.  Or, maybe it's just because I'm turning 40 this year and feel the need to flesh out an account of the many events and circumstances which have brought me this far.  I readily confess that my journey isn't over and the road ahead is admittedly unclear. 

 

How's this for an epigraph:

 

"If we go over the ground together once again, can we at any rate get the problems into a clearer perspective?  Perhaps we can help each other.  The thoughts that one thinks in the privacy of one's own head tend to be elusive - and often prove nugatory or false when one attempts to bring them into the light of day.  The possibility that someone might be listening makes us all more coherent.  After all, we learnt all the words we know in the first place only from talking to each other."  Michael Frayn

 

As part of my research, I have been burying myself both in some theme-relevant memoirs and books about writing memoirs.  Some examples:

 

Reasons to Believe: One Man's Journey Among the Evangelicals and the Faith He Left Behind

 

Like Rolling Uphill: Realizing the Honesty of Atheism

 

Writing the Memoir

 

Memoirs of the Soul: Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography

 

The Making of a Philosopher: My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy 

 

Should be fun . . .