The blogging generation gap

A few weeks ago, my Mom and I had a conversation about my blog. She had finally started reading my posts, and found it interesting yet a bit too revealing. The idea of divulging personal details about one's life to be potentially read by anyone with an internet connection made her somewhat uncomfortable. There is something almost confessional about blogging - like you're writing in your diary that no one else will read. It makes you write things you normally wouldn't say to others face to face. I know someone who has a very personal blog but keeps her identity anonymous. However, her friends still know it's her. I wonder if she would say in person the things she writes (on her fascinating blog that you should read). SingleGirl, if you're reading this, any comments?

My mom’s concern of revealing too much personal information online could be labeled a blogging generation gap. This interesting NY Magazine article makes this very argument. It claims that kids today have a very different sense of privacy than older generations. There's also the cult of "regular" celebrities spawned by reality shows and internet 15-minutes-of-famers that makes younger generations feel like everyone can have an audience. The article also argues they're less sensitive to criticism and don't get personally crushed when someone makes a nasty comment about a photo they posted online. As someone who falls between this new generation and their parents, I wonder where generation Xers fit into this. Many of us are technologically sophisticated and work new media related fields. Are we some interim category, more willing to put information online but still secretly cringing at it on the inside?

So are my Mom's concerns valid? So what if friends, acquaintances, and strangers know I'm going through a career crisis, that I barely averted colon cancer in 5 years, or that I'm an atheist?

Ironically, there is much more information about both my Mom and Dad online than there is about me. Googling my family (with full names in quotation marks) elicits the following results:

Me: 172 hits

My dad: 589 hits

My mom (using her pen name): 1230 hits

So what's more revealing? The things I say about myself on my blog, or the dossier you can put together on both of my parents using a simple google search, including the political campaigns they've donated to, job changes in the local news, address histories, real estate sales, publications, etc.?

Finally some downtime with my husband

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day in DC. It was clear, sunny, and the high was in the lower 80s. And it was an even better since David took the day off work. Actually, it was the first day David has taken completely off work (as well as school work) in months. Ever since he bought out his business partner, he's been going into the office seven days a week. I can't even imagine how he does it. I would go completely crazy if I had to work that much.

In any case, when I asked him what he wanted to do, his response was "absolutely nothing." I knew I loved this guy for a reason! We went out to our new house to check out the wood floors they just installed. Then David decided that since he now owns a driveway, he can wash his car. So we got out the hose and sponges and washed away. Then we walked down to the community lake a couple of block from the new place. We chatted with a few of our new neighbors around the lake, while Jenny (our yellow lab) romped with a Golden Doodle named Sandy along the shoreline. I think may be able to enjoy the 'burb life.

We then came back into the city, walked to pick up Thai food, and spent the rest of the evening watching the new episode of Battlestar Gallactica and an episode of the X-Files on DVD. (We're trying to re-watch the whole series before the new movie this summer). A perfect ending to a perfect day.

I know this may sound like a pretty mundane day, but I see David so little lately that just having a day to do nothing was precious. Sometimes the small things are all you need.

Blogging for Fair Pay

Thanks to my friend Missy for blogging about this and bringing it to my attention.



Today the Fair Pay Campaign is encouraging everyone to blog about their cause in order to raise awareness about the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Did you know women in the U.S. still only make 0.77 for every $1 earned by men? I used to know these statistics in high school and college, but I guess I assumed things had gotten better. So spread the word and write your member of Congress to support this positive legislative change.

On a side note, this post has really gotten me thinking about feminism and how I've been a complacent member of the feminist movement lately. In high school, myself and a bunch of my female debater friends got these fantastic feminism t-shirts. Here's what the back of the shirt looked like:


What have I done in my life recently to help the cause of women's lib? Is feminism simply a label or something I actively try to aspire to every day? I need to do more thinking on this. I feel like I've dropped the ball lately.

I have a shortage of cute David pictures

I've been organizing my pictures using Picasa today (dissertation writing procrastination trick #47) and I just realized that I have hardly any cute pictures of David, especially cute pictures of David and I together. I have lots of pictures where I look normal and he's making a silly face or dumb expression. However, I can only find a handful where he's looking somewhat respectable.

Part of the problem is that David often strikes a silly pose on purpose when getting his picture taken. The classic "David" look for a photo is a tip of his head to the side and up, with his eyes looking upward. Here's a good example (with our friend Iki):



Everyone who has photos of David probably has a number of shots of this pose. Here are some variations on it:


(With his best friend Duncan and our brother-in-law Jeff)


(In Havana)


(This was when he decided to grow sideburns reminiscent of a Civil War re-enacter.)

Here's some other good ones:


(Okay, I look pretty dumb here as well)







And there's also the "thumbs-up" sign theme:





What is up with him?!? Does he just not like his picture taken? I did find, however, a few good ones. So just so everyone doesn't get the impression that David is a complete picture dork, here are a couple of good ones:





So does anyone else have some cute pictures of my husband?

My New Girl Crush

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. It's been a crazy hectic last two weeks. With the ongoing renovations on the new place and our current condo, as well we getting my wisdom teeth removed (ouch!), my plate has been full. I promise to try to update my blog more often. I have lots of interesting ideas for posts.

So last night I went to go see The New Pornographers show with my friend Ann. I posted a couple weeks ago about how excited I was to see this show, partly in a desperate bit to reclaim some of my indie street cred after my realization that I'm becoming a suburban housewife. (Okay, I am being somewhat sarcastic here, but I am embarrassed to admit there is a grain of truth in it.) Of course, the main reason I wanted to see the show is because I love The New Pornographers and I had never seen them live. I also love the solo material of Neko Case, one of the many members of The New Pornographers. Sometimes she tours with them and sometimes she doesn't. Fortunately, Neko was there last night at the 9:30 Club. She was so amazing! And so little! How does such a little person have such a powerful voice?!? And she was decked out in jeans, a hoodie, and (from what I could tell) minimal makeup. And, of course, she looked fabulous.

A now totally have a girl crush on Neko Case.

While The New Pornographers have a classic indie power-pop sound, Neko's solo
stuff is very alt-country. Take that back. More like classic twangy old school country mixed by a modern indie rock producer. And her voice sounds like if Steve Nicks and Loretta Lynn had a bastard child. If David Lynch made a Western and needed atmospheric music playing in the background, Neko Case would be his woman. (Neko would be to a country setting what Julie Cruise was to a retro Pacific Northwest setting.)

Here's the lyrics to one of my favorite songs by Neko called "Outro with Bees" from the album "Blacklisted":

HOW'S HOPE FEELING TODAY?
TIRED AND SICK OF THIS PLACE
RED WINE IS FAST
AT THE LIP OF YOUR GLASS
SAYING I'M GONNA RUIN EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING
SO IT'S BETTER MY SWEET
THAT WE HOVER LIKE BEES
'CAUSE THERE'S NO SURE FOOTING
NO LOVE I BELIEVE

As a small aside, the album was purportedly called Blacklisted after the Rumor that she is banned for life from the Grand 'Ole Opry after removing her shirt onstage. I love her even more after hearing that!

For my next post, I promise to post the long-awaited "Top Fictional Characters I lust after." Singlegirl totally called me out about this on her blog. I've been talking about this post forever, and she beat me to it. I may have to expand the list past 5, though. The universe of TV, movies and books just offers too many possibilities.