A Blog on Blogs

I am closing in on entry number 450 of this blog. I started the blog several years ago and with few exceptions have been making a minimum of two entries per week - all having something to do with communication - since the beginning. Even though at times I am hard pressed for a specific topic to write about, I enjoy the challenge and, even more, appreciate the benefit the entries are giving in helping me articulate my own thoughts about a subject I hold quite dearly. I do, of course, wish I received more responses or comments to my entries. But more and more I am coming to the conclusion this is how it normally is for most blogs.

Presently, I guess there must be well over 100,000 blogs that exist on the Internet.  Of those, there are probably only a handful that enjoy an active following in which outsiders share their comments and own thoughts on various issues on a regular basis. Despite this, I am a big fan of blogs. I am all for vehicles that enable any one to write down their thoughts. Blogs are kind of like diaries that people in addition to the author are privy to. For myself, rarely do I disclose anything too personal. But this is not the case with others. There are ones that are very personal. I admire the courage of those who are willing to provide glimpses into their own hearts.

In several of the classes I currently teach I have assigned students the task of creating their own blogs and then, of course, contributing to them on a regular basis. Overall, I have been pleased with their entries. Some, in fact, have been quite insightful and heartfelt. Others have been lighthearted and fun. Mainly, the blogs are giving the students an opportunity to practice sharing their perspectives in a format that perhaps is not all that common for them. If even a few continue their blogs after the classes are over, then I will consider this assignment to be worthwhile. Our society will never not have a need for writers.