Blogging

"Blogging is the hardest thing I have done in my entire life."
 -- Courtney J. Kendricks, of the CJANE blog.


Thanks for the heads up, Courtney. Now memories of every embarrassing, humiliating and heartbreaking moment in my life are flitting around my head. Could blogging really be worse than all of those times? Obviously, since Courtney's been through much worse. (She overcame a body image illness, went on a mission, was a teen, gave birth at home, and cared for her sister's children for three months while her comatose sister -- a survivor of a burning plane crash -- see-sawed between life and death. Plus, her dog died.)


A panel of successful Mormon bloggers then gave short presentations at the Mormon Media Symposium.


Larry Richman spoke on new electronic avenues for the church -- not only for missionary purposes, but for practical day-to-day organizational reasons as well. With lds.org, iTunes, twitter, the online world is providing ever expanding options.

A new mormon message video is produced every 2-3 weeks. Personal progress and Duty to God has become available online. An newly improved version of lds.org will become available on November 30th. And, the Joseph Smith DVD set (about 4 or 5 DVDs) are available on sale for a humble $4.50.

What is the Big Question, Richman asks? How do we make sure people are aware of these vast online resources?

Here are a few responses:
- lds media talk blog
- lds.org site
- personal blogs
-church news
- mormon times
- church facebook pages, twitter feeds
- mormon chanel on youtube.com
- use social media to share these resources
- click "share" or "like"
- word of mouth... little old fashioned but it works too ;)



Courtney J. Kendrick of CJane blog then spoke.
Courtney was possibly my favorite blogger. As I said before, she has suffered her fair share of hardships, but according to her, none of them have compared to blogging. Why? Because no other experience is as open. Some humiliations are shared with a small group of peers, associates, or co-workers, but blogging is open to the entire world No other experience is as open to immediate public response as blogging. Her personal life was attacked and slandered. Apparently, she's wanted to quit no less than 7000, carefully marked and painfully remembered times. However, her blogging does earn enough to support her family! She says she continues to blog for the opportunity to share joy, and in pursuance of life's quest to find happiness, to share it and to enjoy it. It helps her feel just enough purpose to carry on.




Blair Hodges spoke next. Like my dad, he's a big google earth nut. He had fun showing the group how to zoom in far enough to find Elephant herds. One thing he mentioned in particular, more in line with blogging, were "agrigators." Apparently these are the key to getting hits. Obviously something worth looking into...

He also mentioned how the internet has created a more "global image"; people no longer think of the utopic city being just around the river bend. Now, if they are ever curious about the culture and nature of the Philippines, they can simply google it and find out!

Unfortunately, the online world does come with its fair share of "nasties." As anyone who's stepped into the jungle of the World Wide Web will soon know, people can be horrible online. Anonymity -- Hodges refers to it as "meanonymity"-- has a sinister way of bringing out the darkest part of humanity. For that reason, the Church now suggests that you use your real name, instead of choosing to hide behind an anonymous username.