So are blogs just a passing fad, as Kevin Maney claims? His USA Today column stirred up a minor tempest in business blog circles, mainly for assertions such as:

So, yeah, blogs are cool. Anything that gives people a voice benefits society and makes us

During this period I posted updates to her web site at http://www.loriblakeley.name in order to keep her family, friends, and folks that learned of her struggle from the web site.

On one particular 24-hour period just after she passed away her web site logged nearly 10,000 hits!

Her philosophy for life was miraculously transmitted to thousands of “cyber-friends” that empathized with her struggle.

That mode of sharing and communication was invaluable during a journey such as hers.

Her devoted and loving father,

Larry Blakeley
Dallas, Texas

Personally I think that depends on the people involved. I know that some people communicate best through writing, they really open up that way. They will write things that they might never say.

Also, I recently caught part of a PBS special on autism in which the narration was someone reading the words written by an autistic woman. Through this technological intervention, her human ability to connect blossomed in a way that probably happens rarely in face-to-face contact.

So while in-person contact is generally the most rich, vivid, and powerful type of interpersonal experience, that is not always so.

I prefer to make contact with people through a variety of means. The overall experience is richer, and you get to see more sides of the same person.

A little while ago I had a very pleasant visit with a friend from school. We had established contact by phone and then came this opportunity to meet in person.

Soon after we settled down for a cup of coffee, another friend showed up unexpectedly! It was a surprise, but I recognised him instantly. He was the person that I was a quarter century ago.

People mature and evolve, often in subtle ways. A lot of literature is about that. But to know directly in a compressed and not-entirely verbal manner, what literature tries to capture with much labour and craft, was a rather nice experience.

We exchanged notes about how our lives had progressed, but for me, the specific details were less important. What was more fascinating was the discovery of how we’d matured and where we’d reached against reference co-ordinates from the past.

I noticed new components in her personality that undoubtedly developed from later experiences, but suspect that others had been there all along. I simply hadn’t perceived them before. Of course, there were the delightful elements that had remained unchanged.

It got me thinking about two things:

How tiresome it is to meet a friend who’s still standing where you left him. Life is about growth: think about the pleasure of seeing children grow and you’d know what I mean.

What shapes a person depends upon choices that he or she makes. For example, who he or she marries or associates with in other meaningful ways. But that is another big area to explore and I won’t extend a comment that is already way too long.

Thanks everyone!

Sunil

Sure, I had many pleasant times in “The Pine Barrens”, but I just wish they
had more oak, maple, birch, and cedar trees than those sappy pine trees.

And now, they’re getting an excess of what we used to call “city slickers”.
The cut down hundreds of acres of pine and scrub oak, pour concrete slabs on
the ground and then the new “residents” whine that the floors are cold in
the winter… the builder (Lennar/U.S. Home) is based in Miami, Florida. Oh well.

– Jack Krupansky

It’s difficult to ‘disguise’ yourself in person and/or on a telephone or via a radio or podcast interview. It’s far easier through plain old text. I sometimes feel technology today false a false sense of friendship. The person on the other end of the line could be anyone.

Of course, the person sitting across from you at a party could be anyone, too.

I don’t know. It’s just something I muse over from time to time. I find the “relationships” I form online have far less staying power than the relationships I form in person.