"This is an A chord. This is an E chord. NOW FORM A BAND." -Sideburns, 1977
In context, the idea is associated with the ease of putting up your own website, in Rosenberg's Putting Everything Out There. The chapter focuses mostly on Justin Hall as a case study in blogging. The passage got me thinking about my own seemingly innocent blog, but also about blogging in general. On a quick note, I'd like to mention a detail about playing the guitar, before I jump in. While I want to make it clear that playing the guitar often takes a lot more effort than people assume (as you'll see with the coming posts), once you have a few chords down, you can basically fly through the rest. Axis of Awesome reflects the idea pretty well in their Four Chord Song.
But now on blogging: if you have a chance to read through Rosenberg's chapter on Justin Hall, I'd definitely suggest it. It's a very interesting case study, especially for someone of my generation, who feels they've "grown up with" the internet, but wasn't truly there for its creation. Hall, who grew up trying incessantly to get online when the internet was a purely academic affair, fought an amazing battle with the net, mainly between privacy and truth. It's something that we face as bloggers, or really as a single person online: how much do we reveal, and what details do we leave out? Especially in blogging, there has to be a personal enough connection; on the other hand, there are certain boundaries that shouldn't be crossed.
Aside from this internal struggle with the online world, there is of course the general fascination with blogging and with the internet: I mean, why do people post? For Justin Hall, he did it because he could. Some people reflect upon their own lives. Some people like me, want to share their interests and to get people involved with something they love. A lot of sharing takes place in the blogosphere. I think that a lot of us do it to feel connected (and herein of course, lies Justin's battle with intimacy). But maybe there's something else to blogging.
Hall is quoted in the Wichita Eagle, "Every high school's got a poet... They got somebody who's into writing, who's getting people to tell their stories. You give 'em access to this technology, and all of the sudden they're telling stories in Israel, they're telling stories in Japan... And that-- that's a revolution."
Maybe in part, we're all trying to start our own little revolutions. Sometimes they're on the global or political scale; but more often, they're revolutions of character. People are putting their ideas out there, sharing information and feelings about an interest, and all these communities are cropping up around central topics. It's like there's this whole new culture forming online, like little virtual towns populating our new public sphere.
Maybe the reasoning is selfish-- maybe we want to be part of something important, to feel connected; maybe we just want people to pay attention. You ever get that feeling after you post, when you see a spike in your stats? When the audience claps after your performance, when someone laughs at your joke or even smiles in conversation? We want approval. But most of all, we want to be part of this human race. And that's what we're doing, isn't it. We're sharing ideas and connecting with people we would never have been able to otherwise.
How does this relate to me? To you? To the guitarist?
It means that I can share my tips about guitar: as Hall points out, I can post them, and other people can choose to read or not read them. But the possibility is there. I can network with other people to gain advice, to learn just as I'm trying to teach. It means that I can post videos, I can share the things I'm working on, and I can get feedback.
What does it mean for you? The same things it means for me. You can learn. You can teach. You can keep the conversation going. You can start your own revolution. All you need to do is make it about something you love.
-Kal
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