Blogging - From a Park Bench or Soap Box?

Yesterday I posted my 30th blog. One a day for the past month. I don't know what made me do it. Perhaps it was the coaxing by various people in my life. Perhaps it was the need to release an unhidden talent. I don't know. But here I am writing blog #31.

I thought I would kick off the second month with a blog about blogging. A new friend recently asked me, "What is a blog?". I thought about it for a second and replied "A blog is a website where people stand on a soapbox of self importance and expound words of wisdom and meaningless drivel."

I am good at standing on soapboxes. I can do handstands and back flips with a one and a half twist, all the while solving the world's problems. I have an opinion about everything. I can't help it, I am a thinker, a philosopher, someone who watches the world very carefully, looking for ways to improve things. I love to learn and am becoming more tolerant in my old age.

I also love to sit on the park bench, so to speak, and tell tall tales of adventure and misadventure in the life of a small town girl. Stories that speak about life in a little Michigan village, or of remembered home. Tales from places I have worked, or the odd things that have happened to me in my 54 years on this wonderful Mother Earth.

As half of my brain is science oriented, I must admit I have been watching the readership of my blog to see which stories people are most interested in. Do they like to read about beautiful Michigan sunsets, or Rush Limbaugh? Humor or serious commentary? Or all of the above?

The results? Nature stories ranked the lowest. Rush Limbaugh ranked the highest. Everything else fell somewhere in between.

So I am left with a dilemma, one I have grappled with my whole life. Do I continue to write a diverse blog covering everything from the Republican primaries to hairy monsters that dwell in the swamps of southern Michigan? Or do I focus on my sarcastic critique of politics and current events? Do I write for the sake of writing, or for the sake of my readership?

It is much the same as being a performer putting together a set list. How many originals, how many covers? What does the audience want to hear, what do I want to play?

When I was a disc jockey many years ago, I experienced the seclusion and weird sense of isolation a DJ feels when working the midnight shift, talking on a microphone to thousands of faceless, nameless people. You know they are listening, well, they are right? But how do you REALLY know? I played record after record, would get a phone call requesting a song or two once in awhile, but otherwise I simply had to trust people were out there somewhere. Certainly the morning I overslept and was late turning the on radio station (small town radio, what can I say?) I learned how many people were out there.

The beauty of a blog is that the reader can interact with me. They can leave a comment. They can contribute to a discussion, or share a thought. They can click funny, cool, or interesting. They can post the blog to other sites to share something they particularly like. Or they can do nothing but read it with their morning coffee much like the newspaper.

Go ahead, take a chance and leave a comment. What does this blog do for you? What stories speak to you most? And why do you like to read about Rush more than a sunset. Rush, sunset, Rush, sunset, I mean REALLY! Rush?????

Rush Limbaugh's Inner Child

Rush Limbaugh is at it again, getting liberal and sensible conservatives all riled up.  It is times like these that I wish I had a degree in psychology.

If you have a fancy dish or cable package and can put two shows up simultaneously on your TV screen, select Rush Limbaugh alongside MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.  Grab a nice big bowl of hot buttered popcorn and your favorite beverage, kick back, and watch these two in contrast, focusing on their auras.  This would be the perfect time to have a pair of head phones, with each host in a separate ear, for contrast.

On the left side of the screen you will see Mr. Limbaugh, his aura red with fluorescent orange spikes.  On the right, Ms. Maddow, surrounded by deep purples with an overlay of lavender and blue.

Now turn off the volume.  Look closely at their expressions, their gestures. Mr. Limbaugh's face, contorted with anger, body moving back and forth in jerky motions almost hitting his microphone. Tense, ready to pounce. Ms. Maddow, eyes sparkling, smiling, playfully donning her latest prop garb.  Relaxed, grounded. Even when angry.

Ok, volume on again.  Listen for as long as you can stand it.  Pay close attention to delivery and what is being said.  You may take a bathroom break if you need it.

Do you remember Highlights Magazine's Goofus and Gallant, that cartoon which depicts the same scenario but two boys handling the situation exactly the opposite of each other?  "Mommy has dropped her groceries.  Gallant reaches down to help her.  Goofus throws his candy wrapper on the floor and goes outside to play". Hmm. This is reminding of me of politics somehow....


Have you ever met anyone who listens to Rush Limbaugh that is happy?  You know, the kind of person who strolls down the sidewalk and says a cheerful "Good morning!" as they pass you by? I haven't.

If I had an empty cup I would want to fill it up with sweet tea not vinegar.

I did a bit of research on Mr. Limbaugh to see if I might understand why his Inner Child is so unhappy.  I found out he is on his fourth marriage, that he didn't do well in school because all he wanted to do was talk on the radio and wasn't interested in anything else. He was born in the south and had a high draft number so he didn't have to go to Vietnam. And there were all kinds of articles by psychologists about him. But to be honest, I just couldn't keep digging.  I started to feel like I had to take a shower all the time, afraid the toxic hate poison was able to ooze out of my computer into my pores.

What bothers me most is not Rush Limbaugh, it is the fact that there IS a Rush Limbaugh. I never imagined that we would value hatred so much as to pay someone $400 million dollars to spread it all over this beautiful land.  That to me is the saddest part of all.

Can you imagine what our world would be like if we placed that same value on love? A wise person once said "That which we give energy to we give life to". Mr. Limbaugh certainly shows that to be true.