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Initially, I was a little confused about what to post this week, as I don't read blogs. It's not because, I don't want to, I'm just not quite a part of the 21st Century yet, but all of that can change. As I said in class, Xanga was my first experience with blogging. I jumped on at the tail end, when really only the core bloggers were left. I got one, because many of friends had one, but found myself not quite understanding it's use once I had one. The "function" didn't seem to be a part of the genre. Some people seemed to be using it as diary, others to expressing things they'd been thinking about, publish their creative writing, and just keep in touch, and up to date. I found it interesting that our discussion on Tuesday seemed to discuss the nature of blogging in terms of the community online it make, but for me, having a blog became an essential part of being accepted into a community in "real life." Since this time, I think Facebook has filled part of the role that Xanga did. Facebook functions much more to keep people in touch, and less for publishing or diary sake, and new sites have been created to fill this void. I hadn't noticed it before, but it's kind of like evolution.

Last thought before I sign off. I was talking to one of my very good friends who is now in Washington D.C. She was one of the hard core bloggers I mentioned, and still keeps a pretty active site. We got talking on the subject of blogs, and she said that she felt "validated" that blogging was being discussed in an academic setting. I thought that was neat.