Why having a blog can be a blast.
Sunday, February 13th, 2005
First of all, hello to any Mount Holyoke women who may have found me through the article on blogging that Liddy Gerchman (who has a truly excellent blog of her own) wrote for the latest Alumnae Quarterly. I feel really privileged to have been included in the article, and I’d love to hear from fellow MHC students, past and present, with or without blogs!
Conveniently enough, something happened just the other day that reminded me once again of what an amazing place the Internet can be and how much fun it can be to have a blog. See, back in 2003, I wrote this article about a movie called Dirkie (or Lost in the Desert, depending on which country you live in). You can read the article for yourself to get the backstory, so I’ll just say here that when I wrote that piece, I fully believed that the whole story would be of interest to absolutely no one except myself. I wrote it because I was really excited about the discovery, not because I thought anyone would relate to it.
Needless to say, I certainly wasn’t prepared for the steady stream of comments that have come in from people all around the world who have, unbelievably, had the exact same experience with the film: they saw it when they were young and have been haunted by it ever since. I’ve been amazed to find out that so many people have this strange Dirkie bond, and I’m thrilled that they’ve all now shared the experience with me and with each other by leaving comments on my site.
The comments about Dirkie come in on a regular basis, and they always make me smile. But a comment that was left two days ago made me gape in astonishment - because it was left by Wynand Uys, the man who actually played "Dirkie" in the movie when he was a child! Now, to the uninitiated, this may seem like an unremarkable event related to an obscure film - but to someone like me, who has thought about this film for decades, and for whom discovering the title of the film alone was enough to elicit shouts of glee, this is an event on a par with…I don’t know what - having someone famous knock on your front door and say, "Hey, I heard you were talking about me…" I really can’t quite believe it. Watching the film as a kid, I never could have imagined that so many years later, the kid in the film would be writing to me - and apologizing for any anguish the film might have caused, no less!
So the mystery of Dirkie has kind of come full circle for me - and that, in a nutshell, is just one of the reasons that having a blog can be a blast.
Comments
1
I am a Mt. Holyoke alum (‘66) who is curious about blogs, reading yours for the first time, and writing my first response. As an English major, I am interested in writing and want to understand what the Internet has to offer. I am also interested in understanding the ways MHC alums interconnect after graduation; it looks as if blogs are yet another way to keep in touch. Thanks for my initiation.
2
Hello there,
I saw your blog on Homaru Cantu and I would like to quote you on it. I’m a free lance journlist from the UK and I’m writing a peice on him. Could you email me back with your details. It would be great to hear from you
Thanks
James
3
Hi Judy,
Thanks for coming by and leaving a comment! The Internet has so much to offer that it can be quite overwhelming at times. I think blogs are great because they allow you to connect with like-minded people that you may never have "met" otherwise (and, of course, they can expose you to different ways of thinking about issues, which in turn broadens your own perspective on things). I have yet to connect with very many MHC alums through my blog, but I’m hoping that the article on blogging in the Alumnae Quarterly will change that!
4
I’ve been telling people all week about Wynand Uys (‘Dirkie’) posting here, and repying to my email! I can’t speak highly enough about the internet and how many millions of opportunities it has opened up for people.
Thanks again Jessica for your site and your blog about Dirkie. You say you never expected anyone to be interested, but you have valid views and should be credited with having the initiative to write and publish your thoughts. In this case, you created the most official ‘Dirkie’ message board there is on the internet - and that’s why the guy himself dropped by!
5
Just wanted you to know I started my blog - Beach Snippets. It’s fun to use it as a writing journal. No one comments - yet, so I guess I feel less public than I thought I would.
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