Don't worry, my peeps. I'll write a "who went where and did what with whom" post about BlogHer eventually. Probably a week after everyone else and no one will care anymore. Heh. I just have all these thoughts swirling around in my head that I need to get out there first.
Last year's BlogHer was all about connecting with other bloggers for me. I went to most of the mommy blogging sessions, a writing session, and 1 political session. I wasn't all that impressed.
The mommy session I enjoyed most last year was the one discussing whether Mommy Blogging was a radical act. We covered a lot of ground, but we didn't really get into the meat of some interesting topics that came up: race, inclusion and exclusion, and using your blog platform to do something more. Anyway, the consensus last year seemed to be that putting yourself out there with all your warts and wrinkles was a radical act. In ripping the rose colored glasses off of motherhood, we were helping other moms and building a community of women who understood that it was OK to be less than perfect.
At the time, that was just what I needed to hear. It helped me to admit that I had a problem. I was depressed and I needed help.
Since I came back from my "mental health holiday" I've been a bit detached from the Momosphere. I read the blogs of my friends in batches. I read all of MOM-101's monthly posts one day. Three days later I hit The Bloggess. Two days later I read Mamma Loves or my lovely AD. A week later I read Jess's posts and spend an hour afterward giggling to myself. Gone are the days when I spent an hour every morning before the kids got up reading as many posts as I could in Bloglines. Gone are the days when I went net surfing for new and fun blogs. Hell, I'm lucky to just visit the blogs of those who comment on my blog.
The thing is, I know that Liz, Amie, Jenny, Jess, Jen, Tanis, Julie, Joanne (look at all those J's), Kyla, Bon, Sarah, Casey, Celeste, Gwen, Christine, Deb, Kari, Jenn, and all the rest of you, you know who you are, are my community. If I need them, they will be there and I will be there for them. Whether or not we've hung on each other's every written word for the last 3 months will be irrelevant. We'll be there.
This year, I did not attend any of the mommy blogging sessions. Nor did I attend the session titled "Is Mommy Blogging Still A Radical Act?" I didn't attend because I know that I can answer that question for myself. After 2 years of blogging, I've realized that I don't need to constantly talk about the highs and lows of parenting. I've realized something and it's not going to be popular:
Mommy blogging is not a radical act.
Just writing about the good and the bad of being a parent is not in itself a radical act. I'm sorry, but it's true. It's simply not radical for me anymore. Bad is the new good and everyone's bad in the way everyone used to be good perfect.
So just what is radical if simply writing about the bad isn't?
Stepping out from behind the anonymity of the computer and telling 1,000 women how you feel.
Writing, not just about the bad, but about hope. Spreading that hope to others. Writing to change yourself, or the world, or society's views, or change social policy. Then, stepping away from your computer and doing something about it.
Acting. Now that's radical.
This year I spent all of my time in the political sessions and I attended the lone photography session as well. This year, I feel like I got much more out of the BlogHer sessions. That's not to say that anyone who attended the other sessions was shallow or somehow less worthy, it's just that I've finally figured out where I belong.
It's not necessarily with the Mommy Bloggers, where I figured I always fit best. Writing for MOMocrats this year, becoming active in politics both locally and nationally, has changed me. It has elementally changed me. I'll never be able to go back to being passive and uninvolved again.
I'll keep writing at Lawyer Mama. I'll keep writing about my children and my joys and frustrations in life. I'll keep calling this a Mommy Blog, because it is. But writing here isn't a radical act.
I'll save my radical acts for the real world.
