Blogging and Identity

Identity...

When I first started blogging, I didn't think much about the image I was projecting. I threw out whatever I wanted to share about myself with whatever means I had at the time. It wasn't until several months later, as I learned more about the mechanics of making a webpage and more about how far reaching this thing could be, that I started to think about how much privacy I might want to keep. Where I ended up with it is that I try to keep my full name and specific contact info out of it, but the rest of it is pretty much out there. About as much as it would be if you know me offline. At least I think so. Because the more the social aspect of this blogging thing as evolved for me, the more I find myself wanting to share and wanting to get to know people and wanting them to get to know more about me. I just would like to keep the stalkers and random folks from the past away. If you dig a little, you can find me, but you need to know where to look.

Growing as a blogger...

Kate has written up a little essay entitled Ten Things I've Learned About Blogging. Not all her points apply to everybody, but it gives some insight into how some (many? most?) blogs evolve. I was going to go into a whole "blogging is not that deep" thing, but that's really not the truth. I've spent the better part of the last year immersed in it, so obviously it is that deep to me.

Black Bloggers...

This subject has been a big thing lately. Frankly, I'm inclined to stay out of it. I have enough issues with myself as a person and I ain't tryinna drag other folks into my thought processes, so there will be no linkage here. That might be irresponsible in that I'm not providing any context for these thoughts, but oh well.

The gist of the black blogger thread seems to be that some black bloggers think the other black bloggers of the world are not representing. I don't like the idea that black people are pondering if the blogosphere "needs" a voice/portal of the black variety. If you want to do it, do it. Do it because you're interested and because you have something to offer, not because people "need" to hear what you have to say.

Why do black bloggers feel a need to amass a critical number of fellow black bloggers and say things like "we've arrived"? Everything I've read about black blogging echoes my experience living in a pretty cosmopolitan but pretty white city. There's a black culture that I don't really feel like I'm a part of, but they feel a need to bond strongly with their own and make their presence known and that amplifies the blackness vibe I get from them, which in turn makes me even more uncomfortable. I guess that makes me a northern racist (more on this in a sec). And amongst all this is where Dean called me "vaguely conservative" (the horror!).

The distinction between "black bloggers" and "bloggers who are black" has emerged. I suppose I fall into the latter category, and it flows nicely with my "I'm not political" stance. It's not something I think about.

Race/Racism...

The gist of Dean's thread seems to be... that a lot of white people are congratulating themselves for not being racist amongst all the racists that are out there. We've defined that northern racists don't care about black advancement but don't want to be near them, and that southern racists don't care about proximity of black folks, but don't want to be subordinate to them.

I'm not really seeing the point. Seriously, if somebody can go over there and help me out with it, I'd be much appreciative.

And then after all that I find out I'm blogrolled by a "multiracial" activist that actively supports colorblind everything (including Prop 54 in California), so he can continue to pass as white without guilt and who refers to himself and his kids as "multiracial" and his marriage as "interracial" with quote marks.

Gay...

In the context of the black blogger discussion I've seen people state that being black is a fundamental part of who they are. In life, I've seen many people state that being gay is just a small part of they are, but that life doesn't revolve around it. I guess I'm opposite all of that. Blackness (or half-blackness) is not at all a critical part of my identity, but being gay is. Being gay is not the chief factor, but it's pretty damn big.

How does the gay blogging community correlate to the black blogging community? I sort of follow DykeWrite, but one of the chief principles of joining the ring is that you surf the ring with regularity. And to a lesser extent that you pimp one another and promote community. Well, my blogroll is long enough and I have three times that in my newsreader, so I simply don't have the time to add another 100 sites to my reading list. Does that make me a bad lesbian blogger? Guess so. But I know it's there.

I have a fair amount of queer bloggers on my regular reading list. They seemed a lot easier to come by than black bloggers. But I look for queer blogs. I don't look for black blogs. How did the online queer community get so big? Where the online black community is not so much?

In conclusion...

This is not intended to sound all Angry And Black or Angry And Gay. Because I'm really not. It's just fascinating to see people get all worked up and I think perhaps the energy is misdirected. But, as I've said many times, I'm no activist, I'm not so much political, and all this makes my brain hurt.