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The blogosphere I live in is different, I’m sure, than what they mean when they mention the blogosphere on the news. But it’s still my blogosphere. And I don’t want to narrow it to just one little clique. I see high schoolers doing this all the time, and it launches me into this reverie I have in which I pull students from various years and classes together in the same room and tell them what I really think.
It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds.
I want to say, “Hey, angry girl, don’t you know what you’re passing up when you’re rudely shunning that lovely cheerleader due to some stereotype? Guess what, most cheerleaders are nice. No need to be snotty. You can’t let the fact that you’ve been hurt cause you to cut yourself off from good people. That’s a road to disaster.”
Then I’ll turn to the cheerleader and say, “How dare you treat angry girl like that? You have everything. I’ve heard you bragging constantly about your daddy and how much he loves you and all the things he buys you. You are smart, pretty, popular, rich, and most of all, loved by your daddy. Don’t you know that a lot of your social traction comes from the insecurities left in other girls’ hearts because their daddies left them?”
But then, there’s another version of same cheerleader in the room, too. They look the same, but they’re different girls entirely. This is the one that came in so many days last year trying to hold it together. Tired, sick, worried, overwhelmed. To her I say, “Who are you doing all this for? Why do you put so much pressure on yourself? You’re doing GREAT. You’ll do even better if you chill out and learn to enjoy life. Take it from an old worry wart. You’re fine, but you’ve got to relax.”
And then I wonder if her home life is so great after all.
But I’m glad that I can see more sides of her and of angry girl than they see in each other.
And that reminds me not to hang out with just edubloggers.
4 responses so far ↓
1 ken // Nov 13, 2007 at 10:11 pm
you’re obviously feeling better. somehow I’m mourning a 30 minute conversation earlier today.
oh, and I’ve never dated a cheerleader.
I had a crush on a girl who played soccer @ the University of Hartford.
I dated an artist from SUNY Stonybrook while @ Hartford.
One of the aforementioned women ruined my life for two years.
You don’t have to hang around a cheerleader, ugly or otherwise, to remind yourself that just about everyone can fill you with morbid regret.
2 Graham Wegner // Nov 14, 2007 at 6:50 am
I reckon you’re right in that no matter who you run across online, there are many sides to their character including several that may never be known. It’s easy to write off certain edublogger names as being one dimensional caricatures - the Flat Classroom Guy, the Wiki Project woman, the Conference Hopping Keynoter and yes, the lowly Australian Classroom teacher. It’s very easy to misinterpret things too on the web - one person’s sarcastic wit is another person’s personally affronting insult. I hated high school - so every time I find myself trying to “associate” with the big names, I remind myself that I’m probably compromising myself. That doesn’t mean that they are not nice people - the edublogger “rock stars” - but being a edublogger “groupie” is not a fruitful or fulfilling use of precious blogging time. You might enjoy this take on blog celebrity from Alex Hayes or if you’re desperate, my own post on a similar vein.
Ironically, a fellow Aussie has just tweeted to me that my blog appears on some new list somewhere. Curiosity will probably tempt me there in a few minutes - but it doesn’t mean that I’m seeking the spotlight!
BTW, thanks to Ken for directing me to your blog - one of the most original I’ve read in a fair while. Keep on blogging.
3 Tina Kubala // Nov 22, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I always laugh when the news mentions “bloggers” - that is certainly not the type of blogger that I hang with. Overall, I think bloggers are less prone to clique like high school or the trolls that are common online elsewhere.
At least with your blog, you can have your say, unlike high school
4 Taylor // Nov 23, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Whether or not I can have my say and keep my job remains to be seen, I suppose.
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