Blogging: A Problem?

Nora Ephron has been on my mind lately.  The news of her death last week has occupied quite a bit of mental space.  I liked her.  I still do.  Her writing-style, wit, humor, observations, and willingness to put herself "out there" inspired me, pushed me, and made me want to keep writing.

I spent the weekend reading her essays, books, and watching movies she wrote and directed.  It was my private send-off for her.  Except....

I didn't like the movie "Julie & Julia."  More specifically, I didn't like the Julie character.  Julia Child has always been an inspiration.  Here again was a woman with biting wit, fearless, and willing to try new things.  I like women who reinvent themselves. Wanting to cook like Julia Child, I bought her cookbooks.  I can cook, but realizing I don't have the love of cooking Julia Child was blessed with, I long ago gave up wanting to be her.

Julie, the woman in the movie who blogged about her year of cooking from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, wrote about her trials, experiences, feelings, and frustrations.  This, I found tedious.  I couldn't relate.  Herein lies my latest concern.

Why do I blog?  What does blogging accomplish?  I tell myself I'm sharing news about the tsunami that hit Tohoku last year, that keeping this news on someone's radar screen is my mission.  It's my job. 

But...

Just as I got tired of Julie in less than two hours, I have to assume there are plenty of people in the world who are sick of hearing about Tohoku.  No.  I know there are people sick of hearing about Tohoku.  Immediate family members, good friends, so-so acquaintances have told me as much.

"Your poor husband."
"Japan can take care of itself."
"You're leaving your family behind.  For what?  Why?"

For better or worse, we are dependent upon the media for our news.  News stories, what's considered "Breaking News" changes with each new event.  Sexy stories stay on the front pages a bit longer than the rest.  Since March of last year when the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the media reported on Libya, Bin Laden's death, the whole Weiner-gate thing,  Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child, the floods in Thailand, the typhoon and subsequent floods in the Philippines, tornadoes, Olympic atheletes, the upcoming US Presidential election, and the Colorado wildfires.  That's not even a partial list.


I went to Japan because I have an emotional connection to the country.  The only news story from the aforementioned list I have such a connection to (a remote one at that) is the Presidential election.  All the rest are stories that took place somewhere else.  I can't relate to the other stories.  I don't have that "emotional connection" so necessary to be able to continue reading.  How then can I expect people without this attachment to relate to what's going on in Japan?


Before leaving for Japan last March, I sent out a series of e-mails telling people I was going to Japan, and that I was taking donations.  A pastor from a local church wrote saying she was "disappointed" and wished I had given the congregation more time to donate items.  I wrote back saying I would have given the church more time if I myself had known sooner I was going.  When she asked for the two duffel bags she donated to be returned, I said I'd ask someone else for duffel bags.  (I wasn't going to ask people who hadn't worn clean underwear in three weeks to return a donation.)  When she wrote this past February saying she couldn't and wouldn't disseminate my report to the congregation because it sounded like I was asking for money, I gave up.  Sadly, this is a classic example of what happens when people are detached from a story.


While I will keep blogging about Tohoku and Japan in general, I realize putting myself out there to the world, the unknown world at that, comes with a price.  I could be just as tedious to some as Julie was to me today.  While this concerns me, greatly mind you, I hope you are able to think bigger and broader, be less picky and critical, more open-minded and willing to hear just what's needed, what's going on, and why this is important.  For those who do not share my emotional connection to Japan, I realize I'm asking a lot.  I trust your maturity takes you beyond where mine took me today.


I questioned myself today as to whether I should keep blogging.  I really didn't like Julie.  In the end, I decided to trust in the goodness of humankind.  Surely, just as those who read Julie's blog and liked it, there are those who aren't tired of hearing about Tohoku.


So, for now, I will keep blogging, hoping as I write my dislike of Julie is not an accurate barometer of people in general.