Other Thoughts | BulgingButtons

May 8, 2015
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Don’t Tell Me I Can’t Love This Book

I recently read a book that really spoke to me. Actually, that’s not strong enough. I fell in love with it. I hated to leave it when I had to, and I kept thinking about picking it back up in my free moments. It was beautiful.

That book took me places I had never been, yet it made those places familiar and comfortable. As I read, the book transported my heart too, and I felt as though I were living someone else’s life, at least for a little while.

It sounds magical, doesn’t it? It was. In fact it was an almost spiritual experience. I read and read and read and didn’t want the story to end. Sadly, though, like all books, it eventually came to a close. A lovely, satisfying close, but a close all the same. How unfortunate.

So why would anyone tell me that I couldn’t love this book?

Well, there are a few reasons that come to mind. First off, it’s technically not a story for adults. It’s not my story. It’s not my life. It’s not my history or my culture or my race or my religion. But does that matter?

As a writer, I hope that my readers can find some connection to the stories I tell. I hope that something on the page resonates with them. As I writer I don’t care that your history and mine are different. I want you to immerse yourself in mine, and see if any of it feels familiar. If it does, great, we may share some sort of connection. If it doesn’t, that’s fine too. We compare our experiences and make note of their similarities and differences.

I was a young girl growing up during the same era as the author. I chewed Bubble Yum. I listened to the O’Jays on the radio. I remember hearing about babies suffering the damaging effects of eating lead paint. I wondered why a baby would eat paint. I loved my grandparents and I made friends in school. My life was not so different in so many ways, but our paths were light-years apart. I thank her for showing me her world, and doing it so beautifully.

Don’t tell me I can’t love this book. I already do.

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The book, of course, is Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming, and it is stunning.

May 3, 2015
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In Honor of May the Fourth (Star Wars Day)

I know I’m not the only who always loved this scene and was sad that it was cut in the remastered version of Return of the Jedi. Enjoy the innocence of the original Ewok Dance Party. And no, I’m not really that much of a Star Wars geek, but I do love those fuzzy little guys.

April 29, 2015
by BulgingButtons 15 Comments

The Allure of the Like Button

Recently I’ve been wondering how people use their “like” buttons. If you use social media at all you have them, and with them you wield power. So maybe it’s not great power, at least not by yourself, but it’s power all the same.

On Facebook, I notice that the like button is often used to simply acknowledge something someone has posted, and in that arena, I think that’s a perfectly acceptable way to use it, at least most of the time. You planted flowers? Great. Like. Your kid got a part in the play? Terrific. Like. That’s the dress you’re wearing to the party? Nice choice. Like. Grandpa Vito is in the hospital? That’s a shame. Like. Wait, what?

I think we should use our Facebook likes for things that we actually do like, or feel good about. Maybe it’s a puppy picture or a funny story about you and Aunt Vi on vacation in Bransonville. Why do people go to Bransonville? But the more challenging stuff in life? In my opinion a supportive comment in more appropriate. I know people don’t really “like” the bad stuff, but if you’re too lazy to type in a few words of encouragement, I think you should skip the interaction all together, until you have more time to put some thought into it.

That brings me to WordPress “likes.” I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting a few more of these lately, which I really do enjoy, but they sometimes leave me confused. I get a little notification on my phone that so and so has liked my post about blah blah blah.

“Oh goody!” I think to myself, “someone has actually read one of my posts!”

That thought makes me want to check to see how many views the blog has received, so I click on that little button on my phone, and it brings up the exact same number as it did an hour ago, when I last checked. And, yes, I know I have a problem. The only thing I can think of is that people are seeing my posts in their reader and then clicking the like button from there, without actually visiting the blog.

Why would you do that? I mean I’m flattered that after just a few words you already know that you like what I’ve written, but really, you ought to jump in and read the whole thing! I’m kidding of course about the love at first sight thing. The truth is, people are busy, but want to show their support of their fellow bloggers, so they click the like button. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it seems like a friendly gesture. The only issue I take with it, is that’s it’s a hollow one.

I like making bloggy friends. I like having them around in my reader and in my comments. They are awesome people, and I enjoy their blogs. But here’s the thing, when I read them, I actually go to the blog and read! Yes, the whole thing (if I like it). For some reason, sometimes a post doesn’t click with me. I don’t hit the like button automatically. I’m sorry, I just don’t. I don’t like everything I read, so I save my likes for the ones that I do.

I do try to comment on most posts that I read. Blogging is a conversation, at least to me. Granted it’s kind of one sided, but it’s a conversation all the same. For it to work, there has to be some give and take.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the likes. In fact I’d love to see more of them. But what I really like to see are readers engaging with the writing and contributing to the conversation. That makes me far happier than the quick click of a button.