Urban Journ

When I was little, I used to write in my diary every night. It had a lock, and was intricately designed with stars. Trust me on this one, I know what you’re probably thinking, BUT, at least I didn’t have a pink fluffy pen to go along with it – or, did I?

Deeply afraid of losing the portal to my childhood rants, I often wore the key as a unique fashion statement, if you will, a necklace – I was about seven. Then, one day the key necklace disappeared, never to be seen again. Years later, the oblivion that made me ignore the fact that the lock was glued (not screwed) to the cover, was lifted. The ingenious realization came to me with almost visible bubble above my head, and the lock, previously considered un-removable, came off with a silly ripping sound. I devoted the rest of that afternoon reading my long forgotten diary.

From the pages, covered with my excited and jumping handwriting, the memories came back. Needless to say that some of them I would have definitely kept forgotten. Like the fact that my diary had a name -- I had named it Coco (don’t ask me why). Or, the times when I clearly was overcome with emotions over littlest things – all the small events of my childhood that seemed so important at the time – a friend who got mad for no reason, a neighbor’s amazing dog… Reading Coco made me think – why had I stopped writing? After all, this diary was my past in one way or another, the place where my present started – a secret outlet of expression.

So today, when we were asked to create a Blog, I got really excited. It was to be dubbed my new diary. Suddenly, that very thought stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t know what to write about – at all. Nothing. Nada. Was I to write about how summer was going by way too quickly? Or, global warming? – the theme at my Journalism Workshop. It felt as if I needed to stop, and look back, and also look forward, and make it all work together in today’s language.

Unlike the diary that preserved the memories in private, if somewhat nostalgic, usage, the personal expressions on the web create a myriad of different connections, just as they conjoin lives, leading to the new experiences as never before. After all, it is all about sharing and co-creating nowadays.

As I started working on my blog, I made a decision to keep Coco. It would be my way of staying connected with my private self, and a way of not taking that same self too seriously. Curiously, I opened the door into today’s blogosphere. No key on the necklace. Open gates, and an open communications venue.