Ruzz asks in the comments below for me to clarify why I think Blogsprogs is "groundbreaking."
Maybe I was waxing a little crazy at 2 a.m. when I wrote this morning's post. I hope I can clarify some of what I think is astounding about this new blog, and why it matters to blogging and humanity as a whole.
1) It's a team blog written (so far) by three men, and only men, about their unborn (so far) children. That's different.
2) It's a team blog written (so far) by three men, and only men, about the the women having their children. That's different.
3) Participating in childbirth is the most intimate experience a man can have--it is the closest he comes to the woman/feminine. It represents something of ends and beginnings and is a profound human experience. Maybe the most profound.
4) We're getting to observe the experience, and its impression on these male bloggers, in real time, or nearly, as it happens. I can't do that anywhere else unless I work on a maternity floor, and then I only get four days tops.
5) It's a blog about love. Big love. The biggest love.
6) These men all live in different parts of the world.
7) These men have never met. Yet what they are sharing will get very intimate.
8) The mothers have never met, and don't (yet) blog that I know of. We don't "know" the mothers except through the fathers' eyes. The same will be so for the babies until they're old enough to blog (or talk non-stop like mine). This is important. It is about strong reflections and how they mirror to our own lives.
9) I just saw the face of the child who's inside of a woman I never met, married to a man I never met, who live on another continent, and whom I love dearly.
10) My husband and I just spent 15 minutes talking about what an endearing name "Sausage" is.
11) Men don't generally sit, three together in a room, at their place of work, each with their respective partners in their 39th week, and talk about things like birthing balls and back pain with maybe dozens or hundreds or thousands of other people, both men and women.
12) This is a moving and intimate extension of the human experience -- these guys are blogging about as close to naked as you can get. There is huge vulnerability and risk here.
13) This is good writing.
14) This is masculine meeting feminine head on. This is creation and re-creation. The birth of a blog mirroring the birth of three human children.
15) This is men showing us their wombs.
16) Imagine the potential. Imagine three babies (so far) growing up together online, their experiences and their parents' experiences represented within a single blog. Imagine them looking back on it 10 years from now, imagine their children looking back. Imagine their children's children.
17) Imagine these babies being the first babies in a new world.
18) I believe that the men blogging on blogsprogs will relate differently to their wives and children because they are doing this.
20) I believe we will all relate differently to one another than we would have because of this.
Be patient. It won't happen over night.
More to come--or add your own in thoughts in the comment box.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query blogsprogs. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query blogsprogs. Sort by date Show all posts
December 11, 2002
October 14, 2012
digital breadcrumbs for michael o'connor clarke
I've been thinking about you all day, Michael all day.
I even went to mass because I felt, well, if it could add in any tiny way to the comfort being sent to Leona from all parts of the globe, then I should do it.
Michael, I went for you too. You see, you would be one of the few who could get me in the doors. Can you see me? Standing outside, wondering, having never been to this church, hardly to any church in recent memory, would the side doors lead me awkwardly into the midst of communion lines? Then what would I do? Stick out my hand and say "Amen"? Michael sent me?
It took me a minute to make my way in. Would I remember the responses? Did you know some of them have CHANGED? Yes, for real. They don't say "It is right to give Him thanks and praise" anymore - at least not at this church; they say something else, I think, "It is right and just"?
Today I didn't feel like it was right or just. I felt like nothing made sense.
But in that not-making-sense-ness, I felt you poking my shoulder, poke poke, as I stood in the back. You tried to get me to laugh. I couldn't help it. I did smile.
I didn't make it to the end, but I did stay through the part where all 200 of us prayed for those family and friends who had died. And so I prayed for you. And I stayed for the "peace be with you" part, and shook some people's hands for you and Leona.
If only you would have stopped nudging me so I could have stopped giggling.
me and my blog brother:
- guess who came to lunch
- billability
- global boiling
- in case you're wondering
- michael starts blogsprogs
- more on blogsprogs
- lilting kersplosions
- rauri's breakfast lol (in comments)
- Google is the new CNN
remembering michael o'connor clarke
- goodbye for now, from me
- trafcom news
- missing michael - AKMA
- aerin guy
- connie crosby
- joey devilla
- david weinberger
- unsweetened
- Suw Charman-Anderson
- Doc Searls
some of my favs from michael...
- Flackster on corante
- five things you don't know about me
- peaks of cluelessness
- professional testimonials
- social media WTF?
- more online media reflections
- first posts - 2001
- poem - on the walk home
- Ruairi turns 1
I hope that Michael's blogs are preserved - so many great ideas, so much he contributed.
In that, goodness is like love. Not an exchange of market value for a fungible resource; not a path for earning something desired, and certainly not a way to avoid being punished by an icy-hearted magistrate. Goodness earns nothing. Goodness gives good. --AKMA
December 11, 2002
Let me explain why this is so important to me.
"We'd be blog building a bridge between generations." -- Michael O'Connor Clarke
Alright. I had my dance around the living room over blogsprogs, where three blog dads-to-be are blogging their babies into being.
And now I'm back again to talk a little more about why this new blog is so important. Three men, now gathered in a blog to talk about the end of the pregnancy of the women carrying their children, about the birth of their daughters and/or sons, the beginnings of fatherhood (one first timer, two back for more), about how they are experiencing these things, right now, real time, with us. These are fathers giving us a womb-side view as they welcome their children into the world. And then, as they grow, we will see children through the eyes of their fathers.
This was the type of thing I was trying to explain in the NY Times interview. Some might think I've babbled on too long about how I didn't focus on "women," in the interview, but tried hard to talk about how blogging is changing us as human beings. As men and women yes, but as humans first. As fathers and mothers, husbands and wifes, lovers, children, parents--redefining roles, crisscrossing who we've been with who we might be, and becoming more.
This is what blogging is about. This is how men and women are changing and rearranging their core by talking about truths that were once better left at home, under the rug or in the top cupboard above the refrigerator, or in this case, discussed by women in the waiting room of the OBs office, sans husbands. Do you see how important this is, and how even more important it is that blogsprogs flowed naturally out of what these men were already writing, thinking, sharing through weblogging? Now you know why I was dancing. These are my brothers and they are talking from the heart.
RageBoy said to me last week that blogging is redefining human beings (and I think he means right down to our DNA), that our "containers don't fit anymore." Crazy? Let's wait and see.
So it's 2 a.m. and I have to go to sleep now, but what I'm saying is: It's not that these three men are or *aren't* talking tech, and it's not that women are or *aren't* talking knitting. It's about what we're doing together. Here. And how it's changing us out there. It's about what we're knitting together. We're weaving ourselves in and out of roles, in and out of love, in and out of lives, in and out of work, and we're doing it right here, together, men and women, and we're writing and picking up the phone and meeting one another and showing one another it's okay to be human.
Good night. blog on. Dads, take this with a grain of salt--no added pressure here--wouldn't want to make you any more nervous than you already are.
-Aunt Jeneane
Alright. I had my dance around the living room over blogsprogs, where three blog dads-to-be are blogging their babies into being.
And now I'm back again to talk a little more about why this new blog is so important. Three men, now gathered in a blog to talk about the end of the pregnancy of the women carrying their children, about the birth of their daughters and/or sons, the beginnings of fatherhood (one first timer, two back for more), about how they are experiencing these things, right now, real time, with us. These are fathers giving us a womb-side view as they welcome their children into the world. And then, as they grow, we will see children through the eyes of their fathers.
This was the type of thing I was trying to explain in the NY Times interview. Some might think I've babbled on too long about how I didn't focus on "women," in the interview, but tried hard to talk about how blogging is changing us as human beings. As men and women yes, but as humans first. As fathers and mothers, husbands and wifes, lovers, children, parents--redefining roles, crisscrossing who we've been with who we might be, and becoming more.
This is what blogging is about. This is how men and women are changing and rearranging their core by talking about truths that were once better left at home, under the rug or in the top cupboard above the refrigerator, or in this case, discussed by women in the waiting room of the OBs office, sans husbands. Do you see how important this is, and how even more important it is that blogsprogs flowed naturally out of what these men were already writing, thinking, sharing through weblogging? Now you know why I was dancing. These are my brothers and they are talking from the heart.
RageBoy said to me last week that blogging is redefining human beings (and I think he means right down to our DNA), that our "containers don't fit anymore." Crazy? Let's wait and see.
So it's 2 a.m. and I have to go to sleep now, but what I'm saying is: It's not that these three men are or *aren't* talking tech, and it's not that women are or *aren't* talking knitting. It's about what we're doing together. Here. And how it's changing us out there. It's about what we're knitting together. We're weaving ourselves in and out of roles, in and out of love, in and out of lives, in and out of work, and we're doing it right here, together, men and women, and we're writing and picking up the phone and meeting one another and showing one another it's okay to be human.
Good night. blog on. Dads, take this with a grain of salt--no added pressure here--wouldn't want to make you any more nervous than you already are.
-Aunt Jeneane
January 25, 2006
Naked Conversations Review: The Prequel
How have I managed NOT to review Naked Conversations yet? (get a copy, get a copy.) Well, the problem is, like lots of people, I don't have a copy yet. But I'm going to get one. And when I do I'm going to read it and give my review or at least stream-of-consciousness report. I am completely STOKED to get it, glad it's out, and if I don't get a chance to post about it here, then I'll talk about it in another blogging forum I'm participating in, coming your way soon...
(Okay, you want the real scoop? The naked scoop? Secretly, a while back, when I knew the book was being released, I'd hoped that I'd receive a copy in my mailbox -- exactly how I don't know, I was thinking Maryam might have slipped one out of Robert's hands -- signed by Robert and Shel, saying how much I'd inspired them with my talk of nakedity, conversation, and public relations over these oh-so many years. Suggesting that I start a GonzoEngaged-Type group blog for Naked Conversations, like I did for Gonzo Marketing back in 2001, where practitioners and hecklers can get together in one place and jam til they sweat, take it out, WAY out, and bring it back home again.)
But then I woke up and giggled, realizing they must have mistook Steve Rubel for me. Obviously the hair. ;- )
What I MEAN to say is that I'm excited there is finally a "legitimate" and representative work (which I think it is from reading the blog evolution of the book) that we can point clients to, those interested in blogging and those who don't yet understand, that echoes the cluetrainian school of thought. That underscores the importance of talking with people, and how companies might actually GET there.
I hope this book gives the good business people ammunition and the bad business people acid reflux.
I hope that the message to companies is that you can (yay--cost savings and revenue gains!) and must (wooo, scary: risk) strip down to engage us in our own land.
And to lend proof that we've been naked here for a long time, consider:
2002, blogging is opening the door:
2002: When you think of bloggers you would describe as "generous," several come to mind--to my mind anyway. They are the bloggers who dare to get personal: Golby, Halley, Marek, Locke, Shelley. They are generous because they dare to lay themselves down naked in front of us: "Here I am. Fuck with me if you want. Or decide you love me. I'm laying down either way."
2002, about Blogsprogs: This is a moving and intimate extension of the human experience -- these guys are blogging about as close to naked as you can get. There is huge vulnerability and risk here.
2003: ByeBye BigPR
With no camouflage left
Naked I stand shaking
Waiting for rebirth.
(Okay, you want the real scoop? The naked scoop? Secretly, a while back, when I knew the book was being released, I'd hoped that I'd receive a copy in my mailbox -- exactly how I don't know, I was thinking Maryam might have slipped one out of Robert's hands -- signed by Robert and Shel, saying how much I'd inspired them with my talk of nakedity, conversation, and public relations over these oh-so many years. Suggesting that I start a GonzoEngaged-Type group blog for Naked Conversations, like I did for Gonzo Marketing back in 2001, where practitioners and hecklers can get together in one place and jam til they sweat, take it out, WAY out, and bring it back home again.)
But then I woke up and giggled, realizing they must have mistook Steve Rubel for me. Obviously the hair. ;- )
What I MEAN to say is that I'm excited there is finally a "legitimate" and representative work (which I think it is from reading the blog evolution of the book) that we can point clients to, those interested in blogging and those who don't yet understand, that echoes the cluetrainian school of thought. That underscores the importance of talking with people, and how companies might actually GET there.
I hope this book gives the good business people ammunition and the bad business people acid reflux.
I hope that the message to companies is that you can (yay--cost savings and revenue gains!) and must (wooo, scary: risk) strip down to engage us in our own land.
And to lend proof that we've been naked here for a long time, consider:
2002, blogging is opening the door:
It's nice to close the door sometimes, to hide within walls you can see and touch. But as the hours, days pass, you find yourself looking at that door, staring at the knob, wondering what would happen if you unlocked it. You wonder, is it hot out or cold? Who's driving by? Did I get any mail? Well, maybe I'll just peek out the door and see. Stick a finger out there, find out what the weather's like. That's all. Then I'll come back in.
No sooner is the door open than you're running through the grass with your shoes off, half naked, grabbing leaves from the trees and flowers from the earthy, celebrating the unending expanse that is the blog universe. See me? Hear Me? I'm here!
2002: When you think of bloggers you would describe as "generous," several come to mind--to my mind anyway. They are the bloggers who dare to get personal: Golby, Halley, Marek, Locke, Shelley. They are generous because they dare to lay themselves down naked in front of us: "Here I am. Fuck with me if you want. Or decide you love me. I'm laying down either way."
2002, about Blogsprogs: This is a moving and intimate extension of the human experience -- these guys are blogging about as close to naked as you can get. There is huge vulnerability and risk here.
2003: ByeBye BigPR
You tell me.... Why would anyone pay it in a tight economy when they can get smart, senior level people out on their own for around $100 an hour. And thanks to the Web, the same clients who are paying inflated rates to BigPR can tap into an entire network of loosely joined ex-agency talent that shares leads, news, and really cool gossip I wouldn't even tell you about here. We're self organizing, and it ought to scare the pants off of them.2003:
But it doesn't.
Because they can't afford to see that the emperor is walking around butt naked.
With no camouflage left
Naked I stand shaking
Waiting for rebirth.
December 17, 2005
our babies their babies
Lots of folks weren't around when Gary, Michael, and Tom did a brave thing and chronicled the birth and growth of their babies on blogsprogs. It's the time of the year when the little darlings are celebrating their birthdays. I wish my blog brothers would update their shared-dad-space, maybe use a certain photo sharing service to narrate some photo essays so we can see and hear how the not-so-babyish babies have blossomed.
And a wishlist or three over there wouldn't hurt either, eh fellas? What say you guys bring that joint back to life?
In the mean time, happy birthday season Cameron, Ruairi, and Sawyer.
And a wishlist or three over there wouldn't hurt either, eh fellas? What say you guys bring that joint back to life?
In the mean time, happy birthday season Cameron, Ruairi, and Sawyer.
December 11, 2002
THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN.
ohmygosh, ohmygosh. I'm so excited. Michael O'Connor Clarke just started BlogSprogs, a new weblog to blog the children of our blogfathers-to-be -- Tom Matrullo, Gary Turner, and Michael himself, into the world. The real world. Well, and this world too.
Blogging babies into being. This is the best idea I've seen for a team weblog. As may have noticed, I'm gushing about these dads-to-be and imagining running through the maternity ward decked out in one of gary's blogsticker t-shirts with bubble gum cigars and helium balloons, exclaiming, "I'm the dad-to-be's blogsister, who do you think I am?!" Since I can't do that (can I?) I've been haunting their comment boxes and discussion areas like some kind of a twisted baby stalker. I am just so excited that these great friends and their lovely women are sharing the births of our blognieces and blognephews with us, I could SCREAM.
baby smells. cotton caps. receiving blankets. baby-bathed hair. tiny sweaters washed in that special laundry detergent. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
bring those babies on.
Blogging babies into being. This is the best idea I've seen for a team weblog. As may have noticed, I'm gushing about these dads-to-be and imagining running through the maternity ward decked out in one of gary's blogsticker t-shirts with bubble gum cigars and helium balloons, exclaiming, "I'm the dad-to-be's blogsister, who do you think I am?!" Since I can't do that (can I?) I've been haunting their comment boxes and discussion areas like some kind of a twisted baby stalker. I am just so excited that these great friends and their lovely women are sharing the births of our blognieces and blognephews with us, I could SCREAM.
baby smells. cotton caps. receiving blankets. baby-bathed hair. tiny sweaters washed in that special laundry detergent. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
bring those babies on.
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