I've been fretting over what to do with this blog. I love slice-of-life blogs. Blogs where I feel like I know the authors and their families, and get glimpses into lives that are different (and not so different) from my own. But deep down, I just can't be that person. I can't put my family on display, for myriad reasons. First and foremost is safety. The Internet is a scary place, and I while I want a safe space to explore ideas, I don't want to invite threats or harassment. I know that is not the usual way with blogs, but with the recent explosion of coverage of threats made against women - anonymously - on the Internet (Gamergate and such), I just feel the need for a bit more of a safety cocoon. It's paranoid, I'll grant you, but there it is.
The second issue is consent. This is probably one of the most important words in my vocabulary. While I revel in photos of my friends and family and their children, I also cringe at what people will post online about their minor (unable to consent) children. For example: potty training? Really? It's one thing to show a prom date your son's forays into using the potty, but it's another to post them online where his future boss may see them. I firmly believe that everyone should have the right to control their own digital footprint, and even though I am their mother, it doesn't give me carte blanche to display whatever I want about my children. They are not property. I do not own them, and they have the right to be in control of their own destinies, digitally and otherwise. Also, as we have learned from Edward Snowden and Facebook, there are no digitally safe places. If it is online, it is captured in a database somewhere, possibly forever, and could re-surface at any time, to be used for any reason. No thanks. I realize this is somewhat of a oxymoron, considering that I am blogging about all of this, but I am hoping for that niche where I can explore without being too exposed, if you know what I mean?
Ultimately, I want this blog to be a place to explore. Ideas, opinions, adventures, hopes, dreams. I have a lot rattling around in my head, and I need a place to organize it into something cohesive, instead of making 30,000 half-assed plans and never quite following through. So, here goes. There may be photos, occasionally. There will be plenty of pie-in-the-sky dreaming and a lot of bad prose. I can at least hope that practice will improve my skill, if not perfect it.
So. Fresh start...
