Friday Five: The Way We Blogged

Katherinjnz is going nostalgic on us this week.  She remembering what got Revgals started.


A friend and I were lamenting recently about the good ol' days of blogging and memes. Certainly there are still some very active blogs around our web ring, but the days of the Friday Five getting 50-70+ responses are in the past. We lamented that the Friday Five is the equivalent of the women's guild of RevGalBlogPals.


I am one of those who went from blogging just about daily to periodically at best. Unfortunately, the number I routinely read has gone down as well. What about you?




1) Have your blogging (writing/reading) habits shifted since the days of yore?

I started blogging when I was doing relief work along MS' coast after Katrina.  There was a group of clergy and parishes who had financed me to go to MS so I tried to blog every day.  Some days the net was down or our wireless wouldn't work.  But I was fairly faithful to writing every day.  When I returned to upstate NY I continued the practice because I was out of work and I wanted to address many issues that were going on in the church both locally and internationally.  The 'big fuss' was going on in my denomination and since I was one of the ones targeted by the extremists, I needed to address issues, actions and theology.  An extrovert who does not have a community must write and I did.  My theology began to mature and the way I address issues has too.  I began to follow other blogs.  I began to get some international readership and I was off to the races! 

I noticed this morning I have not written since the last FF.  That says something about where I am living and what I am doing.  Now that I am retired, I still write about 'the big fuss' and the issues that face LGBT Christians.  But I am more likely to challenge well-held theologies that I am challenging within myself.  I now have a community where I can express my beliefs.  I now have even a place where I can preach occasionally.  The issues in my life are more personal rather than ecclesial.


2) Do you have some favorites that you miss?

I used to follow MadPriest in the UK all of the time.  His edgy humor matched mine.  But he changed his format and his humor has gotten bitter.  I know that change too and I lament for him.  And I followed Fr. Jake.  He too has changed his format and his approach.


3) Are there some blogs you still put in the 'must read' category?

Elizabeth Kaeton's Telling-secrets is still an everyday read as is Susan Russell's An Inch at a time.  But I am more likely to check facebook to see who is reading what.  I have watched these 2 colleagues grow and develop too.  They are also both friends who live far away.  It is the way that we keep up.


4) If we gathered at your knee, what would you tell us about those early days of blogging?

Blogging for me has been just one more way of telling the story of God's 'salvation' (i.e. liberation).  It has been a way to challenge myself to grow in faith and the way to express that faith.  If you are gathered at my knee you are probably in danger!  Blogging for me has always been about how I wrestled with issues as they came up against the Gospel.  And that is always dangerous business.  It means one must change.  However, I am getting a bit long in the tooth re. social media.  I don't twitter.  You can't think things through with tweets.  I am concerned that sound bites or tweets have taken over our theology--not a healthy way to encounter the ineffable in my mind.


5) Do you have a clip or a remembrance of a previous post of yours or someone else's that you remember, you know an oldie but goodie?

I am not techy.  I have never learned how to link or import youtubes or the like.  It took me a long time to learn how to do pictures.  I guess I always see what I say as being 'in process'.  Most of the stuff I wrote back in '03 is probably quite different now.  But 8 years isn't a long time in my life.  8>D




WAY back in the beginning I used to be one of the revgals who did a round up of what everyone posted that DAY. I cannot do that with 300+ blogs, but I can visit your Friday Five if you let us know in the comments that you played and here's how to link.


Thanks, and if you are Canadian or American, Happy Long Weekend!