A Blogger's Manifesto

You might have noticed that I’ve been posting a lot more lately. For a long time, I felt that this space should be devoted to deep thoughts, important things that needed discussion, my brainstorms.

But lately I’ve found myself reconsidering what a blog truly should be. In order for it to be interesting, not only to the author but to other people as well, it needs to be personal. What does it say about you? How does it relate our lives, through common threads or interest?

What I was missing with my grand concept was what makes the blogs I read [listed to the right] so interesting. I go back to them again and again because they are honest, unassuming, consistently worth reading.

As I wade deeper and deeper into photography, and as I have more and more to say about the world I see through the lenses I’m developing due to school and my experiences, I want to find a way to tie them together. Both photography and writing are important parts of me, and I think they are my strongest assets when it comes to explaining my world view to others.


So for years I rarely posted, thinking of many topics I could cover and then forgetting them again. Hopefully now I’ve gotten myself past that mental block, I’ll not only want to post more but the content will be better. It’s working already, since right now I can think of about 10 things I would like to post.

Another thing that has helped relates to the title of this blog. Waiting for Inspiration to Strike. When I first created this, I had no idea what my major would be, no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no clue what classes I would be taking as soon as the next semester. Since then, I have found a major perfectly suited for me and have discovered the things about which I am truly passionate. The environment, sustainability, community activism... whatever it is I actually end up doing, these years will serve me well. So in a way, inspiration really has struck.

A couple weeks ago I reviewed all my posts and gave them tags, like “animals,” “government,” “food,” etc. In doing so I really took stock of the things I’ve found “worthy” enough to post previously. As it turns out, what I imagined to be a wildly varying range of topics condensed pretty well into a dozen or so tags. The process has been slow but it seems that I’ve really managed, despite my misgivings, to find my path in life. All that time when I was telling people I didn’t know what I was interested in, other than “everything,” it turns out I was already developing a focus. That’s pretty cool.

So here’s to the next year, the next ten years, and a lifetime of learning. I still don’t know where my interests will take me, but I really can’t wait to find out. I’ll tell you about it here.