I have a hard time summarizing the session: I recommend listening to it! As I played the mp3 tonight I realized what fun it was to hear the stories everyone had to share. The session is a mosaic of voices, glimpses into the people behind the posts, a busy discussion bouncing around the room. We talked about what we choose to say, how we say it, and what has happened in our lives through our blogs. Sentences and phrases, but more than the words, the sentiments and intimacy, remain with me after listening again.

Since I posted a list of quotes and comments on the session, Jay Dedman has posted his comments and a video from BloggerCon.

The integration of work/public self and private self was a hot topic in the session. Since then, I noticed that Joey deVilla linked to an article describing his experience being hired at TuCows: Net diarists blog their way to a job. Of course it is possible to blog oneself out of a job, as this story that happened close to my home revealed. And this blogger story was a sad one.

This week Frank Paynter conducted a survey and compiled answers to the question Why do we blog?. It’s a great collection to read; thanks, Frank. I feel that the reasons why I blog are in this session. The reasons why I blog are include the multiple topics we discuss. But most of all, I blog for this sense of connection and the community we build. And I blog so that I can be in the midst of a room of strangers and yet feel I am at home. Thanks again to everyone: I hope you feel the same.

forgot to mention that I’ve added a list of bloggers at the emotional life session (many of them were written on the white board) to the sidebar of my blog

Thursday night, before I left, I called Lisa Williams to make sure that we would see each other at the conference. We started talking about my session. She said that blogs are one of the only places where people are allowed to be human.

Friday morning I took a limo from the ferry terminal to the airport. It was quiet in the car. The radio played as the driver headed towards SeaTac. I looked out at the trees by the side of the road. I thought about Lisa’s words. I thought about the trees. How the maples in their yellow dresses stood out against the pines. Yet each tree was unique. Some had leaves that were tinged with red or orange while others were solid gold.

I started to think how wonderful it is that we live in a world where not even two trees are identical. Certainly no two people are identical either. Blogging allows people to be human. It is a medium where we can express our individuality. We can be yellow trees. Or vermilion maples. We can be whatever we are.

Then I heard the tune on the radio. Billy Joel was singing “Just the Way You Are.”

I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.

[...]

What will it take ’till you believe in me
The way that I believe in you.

I said I love you, and that’s forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are.

Then with the trees speeding past us in blurs of green and gold, the truth of the song hit me. Blogging is about loving each other “Just the way you are”. Perhaps love is too strong a word for the connections we are creating on-line. But I believe that through blogging we are believing in each other. We are trusting each other. And we can encourage each other in our individuality. Be who you are. I’ll still love you.

On my drive from the San Jose airport to my host’s home, I had half a mind to try to find Billy Joel’s album. I tried to think of music stores I knew along the route. Exhaustion and fear of RIAA retaliation quenched that thought.

But if Billy Joel had been at BloggerCon, I would have asked him if he would sing Just the Way You Are as the theme song for my session. Of course, perhaps Billy Joel himself doesn’t own the rights to it.

I tried to fit in this little epiphany as my session was ending but when the applause started, I stopped my story. However I hope that everyone who came was encouraged to be themselves as they blog. I hope that the emotional life session started sparks and reminded everyone of the freedom we have to be welcomed and accepted “just the way you are”.

Later I realized that I had now officially started a tradition. On the Sunday after BloggerCon II in Boston, I had also bought mooncakes. Perhaps BloggerCon should only be hosted in cities where Chinese goodies can be purchased!

After I bought the mooncakes, I also remembered what the girls and I had been reading recently about a revolution centures ago…

From Marco Polo for Kids by Janice Hebert, page 113

…More than ever, the people of China were unhappy under Mongol rule….As things grew worse, the Chinese people began to plan an uprising.

The leaders of the rebellion had to be very careful so they wouldn’t be caught plotting against the new Khan. The Mongols placed spies everywhere. The rebels met secretly in small groups. They hid messages for each other inside the special cakes that the Chinese people made to celebrate the full moon. When their plans were set, they put messages inside the little cakes telling everyone to rise up in mutiny against their Mongol overlords on the night of the next full moon.

On that night, Chinese rebels invaded the palace and drove away their overlords…

For a picture of such a cake, see Madame shutterfly ‘s excellent photo…

Or here is the one we ate last night…inside we discovered lotus seed paste and egg yolk but no revolutionary messages…at least not this time….

Susan Kitchens:

Emotional Life of Weblogs: Small group. Good discussion. Best session of the day, if the inner idea-spark count is any indication.

Enoch Choi wrote a great transcript.

Shimon Rura posted a few thoughts and the list of links.

Dan Lyke:

…I think the best session I’ve been to here because it’s small enough to be a dialog between people, and because it’s not just people saying the same things they’ve said in their weblogs…

Susan Mernit described the session as

a small group really talking

She too did a great list of quotes and received an insightful comment from Phil Wolff.

Lisa Williams posted tonight:

It rocked.

More soon.

Also two comments appeared in the Morning-after Open Thread on the BloggerCon site:

Dan Lyke wrote:

My favorite session was Julie Leung’s “Emotional Life”, partially because it was small enough that the comments became a real dialog between those of us there rather than a bunch of blog posts that sometimes seemed to talk past each other. Maybe this is one of the ways we could have used the IRC channel to greater effect, as a way for us to divide the “I want to respond to that” from the “I’ve got an idea I want to throw out there” communications.

On the other hand, the intimate nature of the “Emotional Life” session demanded a certain presence that the other sessions didn’t.

Alison Fish shared:

Thoughts & Emotions was a surprisingly good session. The discussion touched on the many unexpected nuances of blogging that I discoverd 2 years ago when I started blogging and going through the stages.

I think this should be a topic at BCON every year because it felt like a Thanksgiving of the blogosphere or even a sunday church ritual, where at regular intervals (every BCON) you come to remember why respecting others is important, revisit how to give respect (sometimes anger is more respectful than sugercoating,) struggle through the impossible why?s that there may be no answer to.

Friday night’s dinner at Ming’s was a great time for me to see others I’d wanted to meet for a while. As people began to arrive, Enoch Choi and I chatted with Ken Novak. I was glad to meet Dori Smith. I had been reading her posts ever since Anita Rowland last year mentioned Backup Brain as another couple who blogs.

Over hors d-oevres I talked with Jay Rosen. We wondered about the surprising results of the election and the mysterious content of the dumplings. At BloggerCon II I had met Ross Rader. Kim came with him this time and it was fun to meet her too (thanks Joey!)

During dinner, Susan Mernit and I sat at a table together and caught up on some of the things we haven’t blogged. Generous guy and new parent Roland Tanglao sat on my other side and it was good to finally meet him too (next time I told him to bring Richard along with him!). Niall Kennedy was also at our table.

I had a good discussion with Don Park about emotional life. Claude Muncey and I talked about my session too. On the way out the door, I tapped Doc Searls on the shoulder and introduced myself.

Showing up the next morning at breakfast, I greeted Lisa Williams, my host at BC II who had come across the country for BC III. I met our Stanford host Lauren Gelman. Susan Kitchens and I connected. Almost immediately we began to talk about what we do and don’t put on our blogs.

The sessions themselves allowed me to meet Gene Becker who posted some fun photos (one that includes a piece of me). Robert Scoble sat in front of me with a camera and a big box of Channel 9 guys. Shimon Rura and I have friends in common but at BC III we finally met officially.

At lunch I said hi to Mary Hodder. I learned that it was good to be a friend of Don Park’s. Or maybe it was just good to wear a skirt to BloggerCon. The tables were packed and I simply planned to find a place to sit on the brick. However, Don noticed I was wearing a skirt and he generously offered me his seat. So I found myself sharing lunch with Steve Gillmor and Niall. Later Doc snapped a couple pictures of me to add to his collection of great shots from BloggerCon (cool documentation!).

After the conference ended, I spied Aaron Swartz. I don’t know how often he meets a fanatic thirtysomething homeschooling mom of three who says she’ll someday send her children to ask for his autograph. Thanks for putting up with me, Aaron, and take a look here and see how our girls are hoping to follow in your footsteps.

Dinner I hung out with Craig Cline and Crowd at California Cafe (I just liked the alliteration there!). Frank Paynter came too – looks like he had fun later on Sunday riding a Segway. The dinner was yummy and fun.

Afterwards Enoch and I hung out with a group, first at one bar, then another. Renee Blodgett and someone who knew Ted from PyCon (Robert?) were seated next to me at the first place. So was Bob Wyman. Susan Kitchens and Gerry Humphrey were fun companions too. Soon it was Sunday!

The time was busy and filled. I realized though that I didn’t get to meet everyone I had hoped. I apologize. I learned that next time I should make a list and try harder to track down others. I was a bit distracted by preparing for my session and I hoped I would find people after the conference had ended, but it seemed that we suddenly dispersed before dinner. Next time I will make a list.

I learned that standing near Dave Winer at the end of a conference is a great way to meet people. It was good to see Dave again, although, since he lives in Seattle right now, it also seemed a bit strange to travel hundreds of miles to meet in Palo Alto. But it’s always fun to see Dave at BloggerCon.

Although Enoch has been a friend of mine for probably fifteen years or so, since early college, I don’t think we have seen a lot of each other or our families in the past decade. He invited me to stay at their home. Sharing the BloggerCon III experience together, including leading discussions, was fun. I’m grateful for his friendship through the years and for the ways he and Tania have encouraged me in my blogging, but also in my relationships and in my faith. After all, I believe that is what blogging is about: making connections that change the core of who you are and how you live.

I guess you never know what a bunch of bloggers will think up, late on a Saturday night after BloggerCon….those creative minds at work…

a bit nippy but fun!

I wasa encouraged when someone suggested sharing our blog urls so we can find each other and continue the conversation. Looking at this white board reminds me of the way we were able to celebrate our individuality and also create community. Thanks to everyone! I hope we can continue our discussion by starting from my follow-up post on the BloggerCon site. I imagine I’ll be writing more about the session in the days to come; my posts today are only a beginning.

Here is the list …go take a look…!

http://www.kokochi.com
http://www.2020hindsight.org
http://www.momentshowing.typepad.com
http://www.enochchoi.com/thoughts/
http://www.minadeletras.us
http://cmuncey.manilasites.com
http://www.theredactor.blogspot.com
http://www.scrinson.blogspot.com
http://www.julieleung.com
http://www.rura.org/shimon
http://www.afish.typepad.com
http://www.cadence90.com/wp/
http://www.flutterby.com
http://www.tansey.net/towel
http://www.susanmernit.blogspot.com/
http://www.sociate.com