I want to thank everybody who wrote me, commented or posted about my unemployment. I do appreciate the lift, the encouragement and the help. It was very inspiring to read your thoughts on the “what do you do?” question. You made my day and week! I will answer all comments and emails as soon as I can.

It is human nature to want to provide value to another person. It makes us feel validated and worthy of being involved with another. To be honest, validation of a persons self-worth is a key aspect of being human. However, no matter how secure you are with yourself, everyone loves a bit of validation, and of course, there are always the extremes, those who need it more than others.

While it is easy to seek the comfort among friends, the truth is I don’t make the habit of asking my friends for advice. I don’t like to sound “needy,” nor do I ask my friends to solve my problems. Basically, for me, my post was just a vehicle to get some things off of my chest, so I can contemplate about it and move on.

I know I haven’t blogged about my personal life or weaved my personal experience into my post. I haven’t because that was not the reason I started this blog. But honestly, I had no clue about this whole blogging thing or what I wanted to write about. However, I did have a reason why I wanted to start one. I started this blog for two reasons, I felt there was a lack of Xicano/a representation within the mainstream blogosphere and two I felt (and still feel) that a large majority of mainstream bloggers wrote in a short and sweet cookie-cutter approach to blogging, which meant linking to some blog or mainstream media article without comment, or a partisan spin on a news event. And because a majority of Americans are infamous for short attention spans, this approach was and still is very appealing to people who are in a constant need for fresh information. However, deciding with approach is best is still up for debate.

I decided to write long post because I wanted to be different. After assessing my personal strengths, I found out I very good at understanding and working with abstract concepts. I have the ability to see patterns where others see complexity. I’m also very good at making intelligent sound judgments. Given all of this, I was unwilling to sit around the house feeling sorry for myself, I needed to take advantage of my strengths on a daily basis and the best way was to start my own blog. I wanted to use my skills to give readers, especially Xicanas/os, information they normally weren’t aware of or typically read on your mainstream blogs; and I also wanted to provide analysis they wouldn’t have thought of. I was tired being told what to think or being told that what I think goes against current world-view. It’s much more valuable to think for yourself, gather as much information as possible, and refine your views as new information challenges them.

On February 2008, three months from today it will be two years since I started my own blog; and on this month, one year ago I decided to get my own domain. And all through out I could’ve easily stopped blogging. However, I have seen a lot of changes Latino/asphere - or as we call it the Brownosphere - during these last two years. From what started as a tiny clique of blogger, our little niche has grown. There were more blogs to read, more opportunities to get to know people’s thoughts and opinions.

We are starting to get attention and some more than others by the mainstream media. It was fun to watch how this community is growing that originally started from the tiny clique I belonged too. Yet, if you look at the bigger picture, the blogging world is not separate from what happens in real life.

No matter how much you much try to keep your personal life out of your blog, in reality you can’t. When you read personal blogs, it’s like getting to know a person. You get the know their likes and dislikes, their views you agree with and views you disagree, their hobbies… You cannot help but share a part of yourself on their online diaries. Just like the same way we make friend in real life, we have the choice on which blogs we read and which blog we avoid.

In the end, your little circle of friends has spread beyond your physical limits, because the Internet has provided you with the vehicle to read about diverse life experiences and ideas in a sort of uninhibited way.

However, there comes a time a blogger comes on a blogging impasse and is faced to ask themselves, Why do I blog? What is this blog for? I am not doing this because I am wanting to drive traffic, thou validation of who we are, is what drives almost everything we do. Nor is this a good bye cruel world post. This post is to reaffirm why I began in the first place.

I don’t make money from blogging, nor has it drove the hordes of Latino civil rights agencies, alternative media, political parties, think tanks or consulting firms knocking down my door to come work for them, yet they do read my blog. I blog for myself but hope others will find value in my writing. Throughout my life, people always had low expectations of me. In high school I was told I shouldn’t consider applying at a top notch university - yet, I proved them wrong. When I was accepted into grad school, I was placed on conditional status and once again I surprised them. The same thing occurred for each place I worked at, but my drive to prove people wrong, I ended up winning employee of the month for two months in a roll. So once again, I fell I am being challenged, however, because of my personal strengths, I will rise up again.

With little over a month left till the end of 2007, I have come to realization, this blog needs a bit of a reboot, a need to approach things on a different angle. I am not talking about focusing on traffic or bringing in ad revenues. Although it tempting to go after potential revenue by adding adsense to my site or be part of a BlogAds group, but truthly, there something about a blog that is overpowered by too many ads, after a while, the blog starts looking like a NASCAR. Then again, to each its own, I guess.

I would like become a leading authority on the immigration issue, not really. However, I would for more people to see that I am more than just an immigrant advocate, and what I write is considered useful and worthwhile, other than just immigration issues. I have written on a variety of topics, such as identity politics, NAFTA, and investigative reporting.

I know the traffic and subscriber count has doubled since last year, but the number of comments I get now is about the same. My goal is to try to connect more without relegating to “comment baiting.” One thought is expanding opening this site to include new voices. The truth is, it is hard to get a blog off the ground. It takes a lot of patience to kept to writing what I believed in, especially when you hardly see anybody commenting on your blog. That being said, for those who are flirting with the idea of blogging or thinking about blogging again, I am inviting you to use my blog as a safe place to test the waters and your ready to step off the platform go at it alone, you will have already cultivated an audience. And know, you have free reign on whatever topic you to post. If you interesting in displaying your art work, great! Interesting in podcasting, perfect! Interested in discussing a topic I have not cover, fantastic! All that I ask of you is that you feel passionate on whatever you choose to do.

So why am I doing this? In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire wrote, “As individuals or as peoples, by fighting for the restoration of our humanity we will be attempting the restoration of true generosity. And this fight, because of the purpose given it, will actually constitute an act of love.” In order to accomplish this we move beyond our comfort zone “and risk an act of love” and for this reason this invitation is an open invitation to any person regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation and religious belief. The name of this blog will not change because the reasoning behind my idea to show our tolerance towards cultural diversity. It is hard to perceive how African Americans can be liberated without Xicanos/as being liberated, or how Xicanas/os can be liberated without Native Americans being liberated, or how Native Americans can be liberated without Asian Americans being liberated, or Asian Americans be liberated without working class whites being liberated too.

Compared to many mainstream bloggers within the progressive blogosphere, I am a relatively a new blogger. However, in this short time, I have learned that the sense of disconnection we often feel is based on our distortions of our humanity. Yet, among the all this chaos, we still manage to find comfort among those of us who share a common political dream for justice.

I enjoy writing because it makes me think, and learn, and it is a constant reminder to look beyond the world around me. I blog because I want others, the world, to hear what I have to say. While there are some who feel blogging are just words on the screen, to me, it is more than a series of letters put together formulating a sentence. Much, much more than that. To arrange those words to create something, it is a radical dream of many colors that stirs an emotional response from another human being to strive consistently to live with the integrity of our minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits. This not just a beautiful thing, its an act of love. The kind of love Freire talked about.

So why do I blog? I blog because it is my ethical responsibility to give a voice to the children who are now parentless and/or forced to take on the role of parent to their siblings because their parents have been deported or locked away in some concentration camp. I blog because it is my ethical responsibility to uncompromisingly confront the power structure within the progressive blogosphere that continues to oppress women and people of color. I blog because it is my ethical commitment to humanity.

I blog because I can.

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Tags: African Americans, Asian American, Blogging, Immigration, Latinos-as, NAFTA, Native American, progressive blogosphere |  Print This Post |
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