GroshLink

After reading The Death of Blogs, I came across What Happened To The Personal Web Site and See Also.  A friend passed along to me the virtual elimination of personal web-sites in his department, with blogging a personal pursuit requiring constant input which many lack the time for and such is their doom, not just the issue with volume but also quality as one only has a limited range of creative material to share with a wider audience. Mr. Lawson calls his personal Web page “a barren wasteland,” and many other scholars could probably say the same thing about their sites. Should professors and librarians delete seldom-used personal pages, or keep them around for posterity? -- from The Late, Lamented Personal Web Page.

Is there still hope?  Previous posts on this topic include:

Blogging vs. Journaling
Goodbye, Blog
Roots of Blogging

Yes, The Death of Blogs. I recently had dinner with a friend in Pittsburgh who mentioned his appreciation for my blog. To put it in my language, he found the material posted a quasi-educational blessing with a variety of threads to find the specific updates he was looking for regarding family and thought life, not a continual self-centered ramble. I see blogging as a way to stay in touch with friends across distance, we keep an eye on one-another, through tools such as blogarithm but most of us don’t find the necessity to continuously post on our own blogs or those of others. It's great to re-engage one-another through personal emails, over the phone, in the community/local congregation, when visiting across long distances . . . Note: My first post, Why the blog? (More)

Blogging in the Early Republic is a fascinating piece from Common-place: The Interactive Journal of Early American Life, tracing the origins of blogging to antebellum America's reading and journal-keeping (and/or scrapbooking) habits. I must confess that I've had such tendencies since youth, even a phase of scrapbooking on my bedroom wall!

One friend wondered how I had the time to post on this blog and who in the world reads them (besides the one making the comment). Not much disimiliar to the critique mentioned in the linked piece regarding a pamphleteer, I suppose he thinks he is shaking the world, but I can perceive very little of the motion so far. But I find this a place to reflect, gather my thoughts, and share them. Some receive a direct response, others just inform, still others lead into continuing conversations carried out face-to-face, and others just have a life on-line.

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Apparently I'm not the only one to receive a mailing from Listingcorp.com, beware . . .

I received a letter the other day from Listingcorp.com. It says that one of my domains has received some search engine listings service and I owe $35. Now, I knew that something couldn’t be right, however this looks exactly like a bill. It tells me the amounts, what they are for, my customer number, notice date and who to make out the check too. However it does say that it is not a bill if you read everything. They just made it to look like a bill to confuse the general public. Not only that, but the domain name on the bill is not for one of my sites, however it’s really close. They put .info instead of .com. At first I didn’t notice that, however they are expecting that you overlook that minor detail. I’m guessing that that is the only site I don’t have privacy protected.

They did a really good job of making this look like a bill and probably will continue to scam money out of people. However, if you get a letter like this please don’t pay them. Con artist shouldn’t be able to get away with it. --

http://www.twistermc.com/blog/2005/03/28/listingcorp-scam

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To add on, I just received

1. info. on anti-genocide in darfur efforts of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) students at Harvard and other campuses

"especially helpful is the 6-page packet that Adrian Tam of the Harvard IVCF compiled . . . it contains information that can be sent to pastors who are willing to have their churches help . . . link to packet "

2. A good report on informal conversations at the first ever "ivy league faith and action" conference at Princeton, sponsored by the Christian Union . . . at which "about 450 ivy league undergrads and alums were there . . ."

3. NPR is also on the story

A special thank-you to Kate for pointing out this frontpage NY Times Article: Class Matters: On a Christian Mission to the Top. (More)

*updated post*

That's right book reviews and cultural conversations are coming soon to our neighborhood. The initial project is posting your top 2-3 books for engaging 'the real world' of following Christ and a brief statement as to why (no more than 2 sentences). These books, alongside the Word of God, are ones that 'make you who you are today.' I would include,

1. J.I. Packer's Knowing God enabled me to 'behold God' and step into His mission. Alongside N.T. Wright's concept of the Biblical Story, this has provided an overarching sense of theological direction.

2. Leslie Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society opened up to me the re-contextualization of the Word of God in post-Christendom.

3. Jerry Sittser's A Grace Disguised provided language for our family to draw close to God and the People of God during our loss of Elise Faith at 22 weeks. The piece continues to serve as a helpful framework as we've faced a variety of challenges including the irratic nature of my health, baby Eden's complications, and the intensity of life lived on this earth.

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In brief we long for the opportunity be more richly connected with you in our shared life in Christ. This involves keeping up-to-date, taking time to chat, share some journals/reflections that testify to the power of God in our walk over the past several years, posting some book/article reviews of interest, and give no-nonesense critique of popular culture phenonmenas such as Star Wars . . . there's probably more to it, but time to head to bed after a busy day!

Welcome. This piece has just begun and is under construction. Check back in the next couple of days for all kinds of good stuff.