DC Metro Moms

Read at Your Own Risk

Many bloggers are introspective.  We tend to write about our inner lives, as well as our corporeal lives.  One day we'll share a funny poo anecdote, the next day our favorite shoes, a blurb about infertility, and wrap up the week with something about our childhood or a relationship with an old boyfriend.  There are those who prefer to forget the past, to pretend it never happened.  While I live far more in the moment than in my past, I subscribe to the belief that an unexamined life isn't much worth living.

What happens when the examination of your own life intersects with the privacy of another?

Admit it, most of us have written about people from our past in a way that makes us fervently hope they will never locate our blogs.  Some of us blog anonymously to prevent that from happening.  Some of us don't care and just let it all hang out.  Some of us straddle the line in between, only letting friends or those we think are friendly, know where our innermost thoughts can be found on the Internet.

Blog for your life!

Science is finally catching up to something that some of us have suspected for quite some time now: blogging can help you feel happier, sleep better, and work out issues.  This month's issue of Scientific American features upcoming studies on how blogging helps people with serious illnesses cope.  (Something about how complaining acts as a placebo treatment for those in pain; I'm not sure I buy that part of it, but I'm no neuroscientist.)  The feedback mechanism (comments) is huge, of course; I wonder if the scientists fully recognize the power of comments and friendship, in any form, in healing.  I hope they do.  I know for me, that's been incredibly important, and I've been speaking out lately about the power of blogging to help heal.  There's an article this month in Health magazine, and I'll be speaking at BlogHer, with Laurie K and Flutter, about the power of blogging communities as a healing force. 

Of course, none of this is news to any of you.  You know what it means to blog.  You feel its power, its pull, and you come away from your computers more satisfied and fulfilled after a good blog writing and rerading session.  It connects us.  It heals.   

I knew I liked her

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that is.  Check it out.  Her very own blog post on keeping our kids safe from toxic toys.

Let’s help her out, by adding our names to the Moms Rising petition to tell Congress “We demand safe, lead-free toys for children. Congress must strengthen the agencies responsible for protecting kids from toxic products and remove the bureaucrats who are standing in the way.”  I just did.  If you’re a U.S. resident, maybe you’d like to sign it too.  Moms standing together for the kids.

I like the sound of that.