I Wasn't at BlogHer...But I Can Pretend I Was

There has been much buzz in the "blogosphere" following the BlogHer conference last weekend. The conference was intended to explore the myriad roles and goals female bloggers are creating in this new and dynamic environment. (Egads! I sound like some freakin' marketing machine or somesuch glop.)

I didn't go. I've already been to five "conferences" this year and my quota for plane tickets and expensive hotel rooms is nigh full. Not to mention the difficulty of securing weekend childcare and the likelihood that me having a 6 month old nursling strapped to my chest would be frowned upon. And I have a pretty strict personal policy about nurslings: they stay with the Mama until they are night weaned. I figured it would be pretty difficult to glean info and bond while a squeaky, squirmy Peevers peered out of a sling or flashed my boob repeatedly at the tri-state area (although boobs appeared to be a popular topic of conversation amongst the Mommyblogger set). It wasn't like I was being asked to speak on a panel or meet with my blogging friends. And ultimately, I feel like a second or third class citizen in the blog world since I've only had a blog for three months. I'm just one of the great unwashed masses who has only just managed to add a photo to my quintessentially unsophisticated blogger format. I'm not just a blogging near virgin, I am a geeky, wallflower, dorky, blogging near virgin. So, as I said, I didn't go.

Nevertheless, this week my blog reading has been full to the brim with BlogHer debriefings (here, here, here, and here, to name a few) and Flickr photos (here) from some of my blogging muses. And since I am a "Mommy Blogger" (apparently a highly derogatory blogging title), I have been very interested in the conversations about moms who blog and whether or not we, as a species, have any merit. One of the posts that got me the most riled up was this one over in Mrs. Kennedy's world.

And now, for my fellow newbies and other BlogHer Non-Attendees of the MommyBlog persuation, I interupt this post for a public service tutorial:

A Primer of MommyBlogdom

I am a newbie to the blog celebrity world, but the pecking order of who's who in bloggery has been drilled into me this week. So I am qualified to elucidate you. (Sez me.)

Mrs. Kennedy/Fussy is the Katherine Hepburn (stately, smart, introspective, elegant) of Mommy Blogs.

Heather/Dooce is the Julia Roberts (beloved, witty, goofily gorgeous) of Mommy Blogs.

Melissa/Suburban Bliss is the Sandra Bullock (the girl next door, wacky, offbeat, emotionally available) of Mommy Blogs.

Alice/Finslippy is the Uma Thurman (Lovely, ethereal, subversive, ass-kicking) of Mommy Blogs.

Tracey/Sweetney is the ReeseWitherspoon (cute, bubbly, smart-as-a-whip, up to something dangerously seductive) of MommyBlogs.

I know there are other key players, and I really don't mean to leave any superstars out of my off-the-cuff list. But I am NEW (new, I tell you, new) and I have only formed these impression based on their blogs and descriptions of each other in their BlogHer reports.

These women are impressive writers who have blogs so wildly popular that they get interviewed for national articles, have to permanently disable comments because of all the flaming and spam, and have crazy high hit counts at which I could only guess. In comparison, I beg (please, please, please) for comments, get like 50 hits on a good day, and am asked by my hubby to please post something new because he is sick of looking at the same shit when he checks in and I haven't posted something new for a day or two running. (This does not qualify as a fan club.) I know of three people who link to me. The links to these women appear on EVERY SINGLE BLOG ROLL on every freakin' blog I come across. They are the elite.

So, if you want to know why Mommy Bloggers are not just bored housewives serializing their pedestrian existence as it relates to their children, check out these blogs. I also really enjoy ThreeKidCircus, I'm Abloggin', and Very Mom. Because, ultimately, if you are blogging, whether you are a mom, dad, singleton, childless by choice, not quite ready for parenthood, or anteater, you are engaging in an act which has the potential to shape the collective communication and consciousness of this nation (okay, maybe Canada too). And whether you talk about your day or bare the naked depths of your soul, you have the ability to influence others and over time, change the world. (Here she goes again with her 'save the world' crap. I know. Sigh. I'm just bubbling with optimism again.)

So, thanks to all the other "mommy bloggers" out there who have paved the way (with humor and pathos) for my little tiny speck of a blog. At the very least, I enjoy it, and it's good therapy for me and my kids.