One of the questions that seems to pop up a lot when people talk about blogs is WHY bloggers blog. I know why I blog. Mostly. And I’ve talked about that before.

What I’m more interested is why YOU read blogs. I don’t consider myself an authority on anything. I might be able to scrape together an argument that I’m knowledgeable in my little field of libraries and teen lit, but I’m not any better than countless others. I’m just enthusiastic, or crazy enough to have one day decided to share my thoughts in a public way. So I’m not quite sure why you read me – or the others like me.

Why do you follow the blogs that you follow? What makes each one stand out to you? What makes some blogs stand out from others that have the same general subject matter? How is it that we begin to feel a connection with a person we’ve never seen, let alone met? Yes, if you frequent a blog, you probably share some interests with the blogger, like Leila’s Dr. Who and cheesy horror movies or Sarah Miller’s headcheese. But SOMETHING makes you return again and again.

I realize that I’m asking questions that might not always have clear or easily definable answers.* Perhaps it’s guerilla journalism for the arts & culture section starved - editorialized. Maybe we are just, at least with books, covering things that don’t get the attention they deserve in the mainstream. Perchance it is the decline of society’s need for authoritative sources (you must allow me that - I am a librarian after all)?

Is it our enthusiasm? Our earnestness? That we’re talking about books and issues we care about, and that excitement shines through? Is it that we seem like normal people who aren’t pretending to be anything other than what we are? Because we aren’t claiming to have the answers or the final word? It is the voyeurs that I’m especially interested in, those who read, but never comment. You know who you are. Now’s your chance. Talk to me. Add to a dialog. Tell me why you give us your time. How have we earned your attention?

I don’t know.

Anyone?

*(Ok. Sidebar on the conversation for a second. I’m writing this in a café and there’s a guy behind me who keeps sucking in his snot in snorts so loud I can hear him over my headphones. I really want to turn around and tell him, “Grown-ups use Kleenex.” But I just can’t. My mom wouldn’t approve. Back to the… um, whatever it is I’m writing.)

Posted by: Jackie Parker