A Word on Catblogging


A way to "Rehumanize Yourself"...and remember not to take yourself so damn seriously

Unless you've been "walking on the moon", you may have heard of this little blogging practice called "Friday Catblogging." I haven't done it myself (other than my occasional random tale about me and Samantha, my 17 year old diva of a cat.) But I think I may soon start.

But several very prominent bloggers have engaged in this practice for some time now, including champion of the left, Atrios, and blowhard of the right, Instapundit. (Hey, it's my blog...I can betray my political bias if I want to!)

The practice has become so notable that even the NY Times did a piece on it. And now there is a traveling Carnival of the Cats, which a different blogger hosts each week showing all catblogging posts for the week.

Why catblogging?

Well, the Times piece focuses on the "one world is enough" aspect...catblogging as a common thread that links the warring web factions. After all "we'll be together" on this planet the next four years, no matter who we voted for, and catblogging humanizes the other side.

I also think catblogging can make you take a step outside your daily cares and woes and look at something nice, and non-partisan. I did catblog one day...on November 3rd, when I was "driven to tears" by world events and needed some respite.

And I think catblogging illustrates how bloggers know how to not take themselves too seriously. Perhaps if Rather had catblogged he wouldn't have ended up with his very own -Gate!

Lastly, I was surprised last week at BloggerCon when a large number of bloggers said that they blogged certain things as a storage file for their own memories, more than anything else. Oh, I'm sure they hope their readers find every post interestng, but sometimes they just want to be able to reference something later...and in a fairly searchable format. I've been very sorry that I don't have any digital photos of my late cat, Gabby, who died April '93. I have real photographs, which are of course nice, but I wish I had a digital record. By catblogging Samantha I should have plenty of photos to remember her by forever, and to share, so others can see what a perfect feline friend she is.

So...I think I'll be jumping into the catblogging fray next week.

I hope Samantha doesn't get even more self-absorbed than she already is with all the extra attention!

PS-I have no idea why I was inserting Police/Sting songs into this post...it all started with the sub-title of the post, and then I couldn't stop.

Posted: Sun - November 14, 2004 at 09:13 AM       EmailFeedback

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