In Real Life

Some blog posts I just dash off in one sitting because they need to go out in a timely manner to make sense.  Others I poke at for a long time before they are ready.  Always there are at least a few blog posts in progress in my draft folder to work on as I find time.  Which means sometimes things go out back to back that were conceived during very different frames of mind.

So if anyone found my thoughts about the value of online friendship and social media to be somewhat in conflict with the post that immediately followed about our family's relative lack of electronic devices, you were correct.  They were two sides of the same coin that I flip around regularly, and I started those posts at different times and for different reasons. (The second one I didn't even plan to talk about smartphones, that just kind of happened.)

In any case, this is one of those timely manner posts that needs to be dashed off before it gets away from me, and it relates directly to my post about virtual friendships.

I got to meet writer/blogger Jane Roper in real life on my recent trip to Boston.

Virtually Friends

I am very saddened by the recent death of Roger Ebert.  He may have been famous for his movie reviews, but in my mind he was a blogger.  When cancer stole his ability to speak he turned not just to writing, but to an internet community.  There is a difference between putting your writing out there, and being willing to make that an interactive experience with your readers.  It creates a connection that doesn't exist purely in a single direction.  It's one thing to read an excerpt like the one he wrote about his love for his wife in his memoir, but another to have it posted on his blog where people can comment.  My 'Happy Anniversary' wish may not have been memorable, but it was sincere, and there is something about knowing he saw it.  I will miss his writing.

Mr Ebert certainly never read my blog, and I'm not pretending he had any real connection to me at all, but on a smaller scale I frequently connect to others through blogging in a more mutual way.  There is a capacity to get to know people through this medium that to my mind is unique.

I read a post recently by one of my favorite bloggers that has stayed with me.  She announced that she and the father of her children were breaking up.  I am genuinely sad about it.

What surprises me a little, however, is that it hit me about as hard as similar announcements by people I actually know.  I've never met this blogger, but I feel I know her through her writing.  I know more details about her opinions and beliefs and what her kids are up to than I do about many people I see face to face who supposedly count as real friends by comparison.