Last night I called my sister and mother in California. I asked if they’d heard about Hillary Clinton announcing her candidacy. I was a bit giddy yesterday from such historic news. It turns out they hadn’t heard, having been occupied all day with my sister’s baby shower. I talked to my sister first, and among other things we talked about, I told her I was excited that my blog entry about my reactions to the candidacy announcement got quoted. When my mother got on the phone, I again brought up the announcement. And she commented that it was funny to be hearing the news from me, because (and I’m paraphrasing) I don’t pay much attention to political issues.
Huh?
I talk about politics. I think about social issues. I get outraged by injustices. I’ve volunteered, I’ve donated, I’ve protested. Not as much as so many others, maybe. But I feel like, at heart, I am deeply political. Maybe I haven’t talked about these things much with her, at least lately. Maybe I’ve been pretty self-absorbed. My mother’s comment stung, even though she back-pedaled. Even though I know she didn’t mean to suggest I was shallow. I felt deflated, and didn’t even tell her about my excitement in being quoted. Especially since the article that quoted me more-or-less said “even women who usually write about trivial crap felt inspired to write about this news:”
Because while BlogHer’s list of Politics & News blogs by women is 379 strong, in this case I found sudden and serious grassroots engagement everywhere, from mommyblogs to myspace diaries.
It’s true that I don’t tend to write much about political or social issues. I started my blog to write largely for fun. And I realize that, indeed, my topics are largely shallow. I write mostly about stuff. Movies. TV. Funny words. Pants. I’ve had the most fun writing parodies of etiquette and advice columns.
Anyhow, I’m still planning to keep writing about topics that I enjoy writing about. Shallow though some may seem. And some of the topics I write about may have some social relevance. It’s all part of the package that is me.
post postscript: I should add that my mother is an extremely supportive woman, a close friend as well as a much-loved relation, and that the innocuous comment she made was merely the catalyst for my own fit of self-critical introspection. Why are we doomed to hurt the people we love most?
collecting tokens 
1) Congratulations on getting quoted.
2) Having fun doesn’t mean that you’re being shallow. A case in point: As I think you know, my aim with my own blog is to try to look at the bright side of life, etc. As I only just told a couple of friends (and readers of my blog) earlier yesterday, doing this is actually more difficult than ranting. (We were discussing politics and content that generally was getting us depressed and very concerned about the current state of our country.)
Also, looking around, I found that there already are too many political blogs out there in the (Malaysian part of the) blogosphere. Your blog, OTOH, appears to be one of the rare ones where I’m able to regularly get some cheer along with — and this, more than by the way, is a quality that shouldn’t be underestimated — quality writing. So I do hope that you’ll continue doing what you do: i.e., “keep writing about topics that [you] care about”, regardless of whether they’re ones which are serious or not.
Alejna- that’s wonderful to be quoted and you should be excited.
And you should totally keep writing things that make you happy. You are clearly a multi-dimensional woman with a lot to share.
I don’t consider myself, nor you, a ‘mommyblogger’. To me, that’s a derogatory term referring to those who blog one-dimensionally in a fairly self-centered world. We are writers who are also mothers. You don’t need to write about politics or social issues to qualify as being not shallow, in my opinion.
Thanks so much for commenting on my blog (AndSheWrote) about my Hillary post. I am new to the blogosphere so it is nice to interact with fellow bloggers. Your thoughts here on the subject are so appropriate considering that I think more than any other candidate Hillary completely understands the constant balancing act mothers do in their lives as we divide our attention between our children and our lives as citizens. I am reminded of the feminist slogan: “The Personal is Political.” Best, Alice
Wow. Where to start. Such amazing comments, and on a post I nearly deleted. (I’m afraid I upset my mother, who, as I’d hoped I’d made clear, but obviously hadn’t, did not mean any of the various criticisms that I made against myself above. I in no way meant to attribute those to her. Her comment, was, if she meant anything by it at all, only speaking to my recent self-insulation and avoidance of watching TV news. I am, indeed, not on the cutting edge of news. As I said in my previous post, I basically live in a cave.) Anyhow…Thank you! For the congratulations, the encouragement, the affirmation and the understanding.
YTSL-
I truly appreciate your compliments that you find my blog well-written and entertaining. That means a lot, especially coming from you, since I find your blog to be impressive for the excellent quality of the writing, and for the breadth and depth of interesting topics you cover. And I’ve gotten some chuckles and cheer from your site, too!
KC-
It is a great compliment to be called multi-dimensional by one as impressively multi-dimensional as yourself. (I wouldn’t consider you a mommyblogger, either. Especially by your definition.) I also really appreciate the encouragement coming from you, since I admire and enjoy your writing so much.
Alice-
Thanks so much for your comment! I was happy to stumble across your blog. It’s hard to imagine that you are new to blogging–it looks like you’ve written so much. I plan to be back to visit again. (I’ll hopefully comment, too. I’m afraid I’m one of the slowest writers in the world, so it always takes me a while to figure out what I want to say.) And I like your mention of the “balancing act,” as well as the slogan “the Personal is Political.” It’s interesting to look at my own mental/personal struggles in the bigger social context.
Alejna