Why do I Blog?

Why do I blog?

My brother Matt today and I were discussing my new blog site. He voiced some general distaste for blogs, asking aloud why anyone would want to have a blog, a somewhat public journal, that anyone could access.

When he said this I didn’t have an answer, and it got me thinking. Why do I have a blog? Why am I (at least for the moment) intrigued with having one?

I thought about it.

I remember about 10 years ago, when I decorated two blank white t-shirts. I went out and bought a couple of permanent laundry markers and marked up those two shirts. One was a collage/list of “things I didn’t like” (although nowhere on the shirt did it say “These are things I don’t like”). It included things like lima beans, country music, Dennis Rodman, rude people, B.O., etc. For me it was a fun, gentle way to voice myself.

I filled the other shirt with quotes -- quotes from movies, poems, scriptures, TV shows, etc. It was a lot of fun to do, and quite a conversation piece. I still have that shirt, and even though it’s getting old, I am very attached to it. It means a lot to me.

I also remember how BYU had (has?) a “Soap Box” every Wednesday. It was a public forum for people to say whatever they wanted, within appropriate bounds, on any topic that weighed their minds.

As I am often a very outspoken person, for me the blog is a great way to have my own newspaper, or more specifically, editorial column -- a place where I can praise, question, complain, wonder, observe, spew, wax poetic, journalize, or whatever. It’s also nice in that I don’t have to send a specific e-mail to a certain person and await for a reply. Here I can just throw it out to sea, like a fish, and let anyone who wants to catch it.

So, why do I blog? To express. To voice. To be heard. To connect.