Thursday, February 20, 2014

Last week I listened with curiosity

...to a writer's take on the current state of blogs and social media, a take which included a few comments about this blog. The comments were not exactly complimentary, but hey, here I am again. And here's the book that came in the mail today, a book I will likely begin reading tonight.*



Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life by Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings.


Blogs and other forms of social media are important to my writing life and I know I'm not alone in that. I'm especially grateful for blog posts by others that point to books, posts that explore lines of thinking, posts that engage with the world in playful ways, posts that make me look at things differently. And so on. So I went outside, placed the book on a can and took a few pics. This is what I do. I didn't put on a jacket. It's only -17 and it only took a few minutes. Talk about refreshing!

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* February 21 - I read the first couple chapters last night and can't wait to get back to it. Well-written with lots of well-chosen quotes. An intriguing read so far.

6 comments:

Blondi Blathers said...

Re: uncomplimentary remarks.
I once sent the link to my blog to an acquaintance who didn't see any point in blogging and wouldn't waste her time reading blogs which, as a professional writer, were, she thought, beneath her or at least a waste of her time.
She is now my most faithful and supportive reader.
Just sayin' ... sometimes they know not of which they speak. Or whatever the saying is.

Brenda Schmidt said...

And in this case, it's a different way of seeing things, which makes me look again and rethink, and that's always good.

I did start reading the book last night and it's very good.

Pearl said...

ooh, like that placement.

I should do more interesting pictures when I get books.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks! One of these days I'll accidentally drop a book in a snow bank and then I'll be sorry. But maybe the risk is part of the fun!

Finn said...

Brenda: would be interested to know who this writer is and what his/her attitude about the technology is in a general sense. Does this person see the problem as being computer technology overall? Or just its blog/SNS variants? Also, does his/her critique include all technology or just its digital forms?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Good questions. I see now that my post overemphasizes the comments, which were but a tiny moment in an informal and quite festive context. Maybe I just needed a good cup of coffee and a cookie or something. I think it's the way I chose to receive the comments that leaves me questioning and defending what I do. Why was/am I defensive re blogs? The working out of that question is a good thing, as I haven't really given serious thought recently about what has over the years become quite routine.