Outside looking in
Someone asked me the other day if the rest of the world cared about what's happening in the US, and my answer is that, yes, some of us do.
I read, recently, this article about how bloggers tend to form (online) communities by physical proximity, which is ironic, considering that the internet is the medium to break down geographical barriers. But Sitemeter appears to substantiate this phenomenon, at least where the readership of this blog is concerned. Nevertheless, there remains a fair amount of non-Singaporean blogs that I read on a regular basis. Familiarity and diversity; I enjoy them both.
When something big happens, like the tsunami of December 2004, the London bombings, and now, Katrina, I instinctively go over in my mind the people I know who may be affected, and when I'm sure everyone's okay, the next list that goes through my mental search engine is the people whose blogs I stalk.
Unfortunately, there is one person on my watch list that is caught in the midst of all this.
I first came across Danielle's LJ during the second season of American Idol, where she made this wonderfully touching Clay Aiken collage -- it made me cry (shut up). So I dropped her a note, she replied very kindly, and I've been reading her blog ever since.
Danielle started blogging about Katrina a week or two ago, but on August 29, they lost all power, and from then on, she's been blogging via phone; that's the sobering reality. Her LJ friends have been nice enough to transcript her audio messages.
This is a rare insight to what it is like on the inside; the fear and sobs in some of her posts are absolutely heart-wrenching. As I'm writing this post, though, Danielle has just posted another audio, and she seems to be doing better. I hope and pray that everyone else is too.
I read, recently, this article about how bloggers tend to form (online) communities by physical proximity, which is ironic, considering that the internet is the medium to break down geographical barriers. But Sitemeter appears to substantiate this phenomenon, at least where the readership of this blog is concerned. Nevertheless, there remains a fair amount of non-Singaporean blogs that I read on a regular basis. Familiarity and diversity; I enjoy them both.
When something big happens, like the tsunami of December 2004, the London bombings, and now, Katrina, I instinctively go over in my mind the people I know who may be affected, and when I'm sure everyone's okay, the next list that goes through my mental search engine is the people whose blogs I stalk.
Unfortunately, there is one person on my watch list that is caught in the midst of all this.
I first came across Danielle's LJ during the second season of American Idol, where she made this wonderfully touching Clay Aiken collage -- it made me cry (shut up). So I dropped her a note, she replied very kindly, and I've been reading her blog ever since.
Danielle started blogging about Katrina a week or two ago, but on August 29, they lost all power, and from then on, she's been blogging via phone; that's the sobering reality. Her LJ friends have been nice enough to transcript her audio messages.
This is a rare insight to what it is like on the inside; the fear and sobs in some of her posts are absolutely heart-wrenching. As I'm writing this post, though, Danielle has just posted another audio, and she seems to be doing better. I hope and pray that everyone else is too.
posted by Laughingcow at 10:11 pm
2 Comments:
I read many non-US blogs. =)
Ah, I was wondering where you went... :)
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