by Farai Chideya

Hey Peeps:

I've been a bit shy about blogging, not because there's not anything to blog about, but because there's so MUCH to blog about.

I started blogging in 1995, before blog was a commonly used term, under Pop and Politics. The site still exists, and it's still a blog, but I don't blog there. (It's a university nonprofit that helps train the next, and diverse, generation of bloggers.....)

I still blog from time to time. I have a personal domain which is down for reconstruction (working on turning it into a photo blog just for fun) so I will spare you that URL.

Being in the blogosphere for so long makes you think.

The MAIN thing you think, after 12 or so years is: why?

I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in the best of ways. You ask yourself things like: is this personal or business? How much of my private life do I share with the world? Will old posts come back to haunt me? Is this unsafe? Is it, in some way, INSANE.... spilling words (and these days, pictures, video, audio) into a vast universe that does not care about you specifically, only if people link to what you have to say?

I've been online in a meaningful way for fifteen years. When I was a young reporter at Newsweek, I had a modem the size of a paperback book. I used a bunch of cords to connect that modem to the phone lines AND the computer (which was all text... green on black). I loved it. I loved the interconnectivity, the ability to network, the intimacy of being in a new world.

I was a pioneer.

And yes, I was a black pioneer. As I was traveling around the country reporting in places that had probably never seen a black reporter, I was also participating in online forums that didn't have any black participants, except me.

So, I'm an internet geezer. I'm not by any means the most technically skilled person. I just have the perseverence—the stick-to-itiveness, if you will—to surf the wave of technology. And yes, that was a cliche.

So... hey... I'm going to blog about being a long time blogger. And you and I are going to talk...

I want to hear from you if you blog

or if you don't

or if you have questions

I believe in DIY. I believe in making your own mark on the world. I believe in being able to bear up when you mess up... i.e., say/post something stupid. I believe in improving your game.

So... let's talk!

CU L8R

(THAT was just a joke. I do not in any way endorse text message slang. Except as a joke. A bad one...)

Love, peace, and hair grease.

F