Ayelet Waldman and my views on blogging

After reading the Ayelet Waldman interview by Kline and Burstein I do feel a sense of understanding with what she is saying, how writing things raw and uncut can feel cleansing, therapeutic in a way. I do not know much about bipolar disorder, I do not understand taking pills to balance your emotions, to balance your life but I do understand writing. You can let yourself dive in to the deep sea of freedom, of verbs and nouns unscathed by anyone else, out there for you to grasp on to and put in to such form that frees your soul. Blogging is a way of writing, a way of getting that therapeutic feeling that someone, somewhere is listening to you, or at least that is the impression I was given by Waldman’s response. I have never blogged personally or read any other then what we have written in class, I see downfalls and I see advantages after reading this article. I feel that it is a bit demoralizing, frightening and creepy to know that you do not know who is reading what you are writing, what they’re intentions are and if you are safe despite the heartwarming story she portrayed about how blogging saved her life. I’m of two minds about Waldman’s claim that blogging is as amazing, affectionate and life changing. On the one hand, I agree that it is a way to get those unrefined thoughts out and in front of you. On the other hand, I am not sure if I still believe it is safe to be writing to such an audience as blogging does. Despite my reservations, I believe that this is a good case in which blogging is not as bad as I presumed it to be and feel it may be a good thing for some people.