Hello, I'm back! And now that I'm back, unfortunately, I've got nothin'... and it is all The Spouse's fault.
I've been writing this blog for two years, and in all that time, The Spouse has never asked that I refrain from writing about a particular topic. Until two days ago.
So, a "situation" has presented itself that for me falls under the "I don't want to do this but I'll suck it up and do it anyway" category of marital duties. Then, I was struck by inspiration and thought, hey, this would make a darn funny blog. I mentioned it to The Spouse. This is how the conversation went.
Me: You know, this topic would make a really funny blog. I could write about...
The Spouse: I'd rather you didn't.
(So, then my hackles are up because (a) I'm basically going to be forced to do something that I don't want to do and (b) now I can't even write about it on my own gosh darn blog.)
Me: (incredulous) Are you actually forbidding me to write about it?
The Spouse: I'm not forbidding you to do anything. I'm just saying that I'd rather you didn't.
Now the thing about writing out this conversation is that I cannot convey to you the way in which The Spouse made the above statement. He used THE TONE. So, although he technically did not forbid me to blog about it, the use of THE TONE was meant to indicate that a whole lot of bad would rain down on my head if I so much as typed two words about it.
And of course my first inclination was to do it anyway with thoughts of "well, you're not the boss of me" running through my head. But I didn't.
It did, however, get me thinking about how far I would be willing to go in writing a blog.
When I first started blogging two years ago, I only had vague notions of what a blog was. What was supposed to be a blog about Brookfield has become less about the city itself and more about my life in the city and its surrounds. And that is where the problem lies because my life is not just about me -- it's about my husband, my children, and my friends.
When I first started, I didn't fully grasp the reach and permanency of putting something into cyberspace. Nor did I realize the phenomenon of "anonymous intimacy" that takes place between bloggers and their readers -- a relationship that can generate sympathetic comments as well as venomous ones.
It comes down to a question of exposure. How much information is too much?
I've engaged in a little self-censorship. I purposely don't identify my spouse, kids, and friends by their full name, and I still hesitate to post pictures of my family on the blog, although I kind of go back and forth about that.
Wondering if there was such a thing as a "code of ethics" for bloggers, I googled just that, and sure enough, here's a sample of what I found.
I've also read material from other bloggers who've struggled with the same issues. Take for example this local blogger: Fish Out of Water.
So, I've come up with my own code:
Thou shalt thinketh before thou blogeth. And then thou shalt thinketh again.
I think that should cover about anything.
