Pi’s Good
Mar 13, 2009Today was Pi Day!! Not officially (it’s actually tomorrow), but because there’s no school on Saturdays, we made an exception. A few of the 7th and 8th grade math classes had a math-off today, which (of course) we were laughed at for. My class nearly beat the top 8th grade class (I’m in 7th), but it ended up in a tie. We owed a lot of our points to my friend, Maxine, who memorized 120+ digits of Pi. The winning class – or classes – got a pie (how appropriate??) and über-mathlete status. It was awesome.
Speaking of being laughed at, today I stopped importing my blog posts into Facebook. Why? There really isn’t any reason for them to be there. In fact, I would rather have people come to my site. That way they can see what it looks like and really “get the whole package.”
But there’s another reason. A couple days ago, some kids in my class Google Images searched “Spencer Tweedy” and found pictures from my blog – some more embarrassing than others. I know: I shouldn’t care too much about what other kids think. I love writing, and I love the blog community, but it can be stifling when too-cool-for-school kids come across your website with a bad attitude. To tell the truth, that’s part of the reason I’m so self-conscious of my writing. Sometimes I won’t publish posts because I don’t think people will like it, or because I don’t like it.
Another thing is angst. So many kid-bloggers are angsty little teens who think that by complaining on the internet they’ll find something. I don’t think the internet is really the greatest place for venting. Here’s when the oh-so alarmist quote of the web-wary comes in: There’s lots of bad stuff out there! It’s true; there is a lot of danger on the internet. But I can see why someone might reach out to the web community. A lot of kids aren’t lucky enough to have someone that they can talk to or share their feelings with – somebody decent, at least.
A while ago, back in December, Austin Scaggs wrote a post called “Spencer Tweedy, Boy Genius” on the Rolling Stone Smoking Section. In the post, he says, “When he’s not performing, Tweedy enjoys reading — he’s almost done with the Christopher Paolini’s fantastical novel Brisingr — and venting on his blog.” At the time, this sorta kinda offended me. I thought, “No, I’m not one of those kids. I just enjoy writing.” But now I realize it’s not necessarily a bad thing to vent on a blog – as long as you stay, I dunno.. “down to earth” maybe?
Tavi – from Style Rookie – has been a big inspiration to me. I’m no fashion blogger, but I think her writing still has a lot of meaning. Reading her blog reminded me that writing doesn’t need to be so serious. I can take a day off, I can make a post that’s less than 500 words, and I don’t have to maintain this sort of child-professionalism that had been stressing me out.
When I began my blog (nearly two years ago, I think), all I wrote were things like guides and reviews. I never wrote anything about my own life. In fact, I never really did until late last year (when I found Tavi’s blog). It was all about acting like a writer on the internet, not blogging. I talk about this in a post called “I’mma Own It.”
“Hi there. I haven’t posted in a while, the reason being A.) Sick, fever, cough, blah. Last week was basically just filled with tons of TV and mindless vegetating, hence the un-creativeness, and B.) I’m going through yet another one of those “blogging related questioning” times. This time, instead of worrying about how my blog looks or what the topic is, I’m wondering why I resist making posts that are… time locked. I mean all of my posts usually have nothing to do with “the now” and are more like references. Maybe I trained myself to make posts that people might bookmark and come back to. But what I’m realizing now is that when you write about what’s happening now, people will be more motivated to come back often–because it’s time related. So, on that note, I think I’ll start writing more of the ‘haps, kay? After all, I am a kid. No need to be professional or anything.”
I think I pretty much “hit the nail on the head” with that post. It’s true: I trained myself to make posts people would come back to and bookmark, like how-to’s or tutorials. It was part of a mini-entrepreneur phase I had, where I read blogs like Yaro Starak’s Entrepreneurs-Journey.com. I’ve gotten passed that now, but I still read blogs like ProBlogger.net and DailyBlogTips.com, only because they’re interesting. Most of the time I skim through their posts for writing tips or exercises.
It really feels good to get that off my chest! Now I really don’t care if jocks at school say this is “gay” or “stupid.” It’s fun, healthy, and entertaining, and anyone who gives me/bloggers crap for it is, well.. let’s be nice. Eat it ;)
Peace & thanks,
Spencer Tweedy
tavi is such a great blogger because her posts are ridiculously funny. it’s not easy for bloggers to make me really laugh, and her narrative (and yours Spencer!) always make me laugh, literally, out loud. you guys both are young and you don’t care what anyone says about your blogs.
you are a very talented writer and i can see where you get offended when people say “venting”. it seems that if you tell people you’re a blogger these days they automatically think Perez Hilton or angsty teen poetry (both make me frown).
ah! and i hate when blogs are too serious! i have a strict rule at mine (which is less writing, more pictures and music) that if i do write something or post something it is NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. thus if i post a sarcastic comment about me thinking homeless people are the bomb, people should not get upset (true story, i don’t want to talk about it…)
anyways. this is a nice post :)
I kept a blog (technically a xanga) when I was in middle school, but I did some venting as well.
I looked back on it when I was in high school and it physically made me cringe. But I feel you should do that to yourself once in a while, look back and go “What the hell was I thinking?” or else you haven’t made that much progress yet.
That being said, I still keep a blog now, a personal one, but I just let everyone see it because I figure if I had enough random people finding it, might as well let them look at it.
And then my ex-girlfriend found it.
So, I guess I still have to balance out where I am in the privacy issue of blogging.
Forget the haters. I started blogging my freshman year of high school (almost ten years ago now) and that’s probably the single thing that’s helped my writing the most. Blogging is a really valuable tool for figuring stuff out about yourself and the world. Life doesn’t get less confusing — there’s no shame in using what’s available to you in order to navigate it all, and developing good communication skills is only going to help you later on.
I’ve been reading blogs of regular old folks all over the world for the last ten years. I’ve seen them graduate high school, get married, have kids, deal with all kinds of problems. It’s possible to make some really good friends through people’s personal writing. Doesn’t mean writing like that’s easy, but it’s definitely rewarding. Stick with it. Keep thinking. Keep writing. It’s good for you. And one day soon enough you’ll be away from all the kids who are giving you a hard time right now.
For what it’s worth, I really like reading what you have to say about how life’s going for you. :)
[...] bookmarks tagged brisingr Pi’s Good saved by 4 others liesje07 bookmarked on 03/14/09 | [...]
Never be embarrassed about being too smart or having too much talent. The people that mock you won’t matter to you in a very short time. Tomorrow they will all be Yesterday’s Papers. All you can do is take it, not let it upset you too much and do what you gotta do, which in your case seems to be to write.
I want give you a Spanish sentence to translate,it´s from “El Quijote” :
“Ladran,luego cabalgamos”
Let me know if you can´t understand the meaning.Oh well,obviously,I mail you this because you CAN understand the metaphor,even in Spanish.
And,please:don´t worry,and let matters take their course.You will laugh about this in few years.
Excellent, Spencer, I hope you don’t let those idiots who mock your blog or your intelligence bother you one tiny bit. They WISH they could write like you or share some of your perspectives on the world. I love that you write about your life more now and I (obviously) think blogging is a great way to put yourself out there even if it does mean you open yourself up to criticism. No one is forced to read anything so if they don’t like what they’re seeing, they can EAT IT, as you so eloquently stated. Your “venting” is always interesting, always positive, and always has a purpose. Keep on blogging!
Do not let people like that get you down. I’m a new reader of your blog, and the thing I love about your blog is how mature, thoughtful, and well, HONEST, your writing is. So please don’t let a couple of jerks sway you from that. Remember there are many many more nice people out there than jerks, it’s just that the jerks are the ones all up in your face!
Thanks everybody for these great, great comments!
I originally found your blog because I’m a Wilco fan and someone who knew that about me sent me the link. I subscribed to your feed because you’re a smart kid (beyond your years, I would say) who posts interesting and heartfelt stuff.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks to you and Hazel for the mention and nice thoughts!
Excellent post, completely get what you’re saying…it’s definitely hard to stop trying to make sure you’re not being mildly offensive in a post or that a piece of writing (or in my case, an outfit) isn’t good enough, but it really just comes down to the fact that it’s your blog and you can pretty much say whatever you want. It’s safer to have more of a filtering system for what goes on my blog since anyone can see it (I went back and deleted bad stuff about my teachers after actually realizing this) but when my filtering system makes my writing boring and opinion-less then I want to slap myself in the face for being so self-conscious…the bottom line is that no one will ever completely agree with everything I say and it’s just human nature that people dislike what I write/wear/think etc. I love blogging but don’t take it as seriously anymore- I don’t really care anymore if I don’t post every day or if a post is lazy, it’s a blog, no reason to get too hung up over it. I get annoyed when I’m lacking in inspiration because it’s just a bad feeling. Days like that I don’t post…why force it, yeah?
Pshh anyone that would actually use “gay” negatively is someone whose opinion probably isn’t worth valuing anyway, haha. Your blog is fantastic, poor school children just b jealz~~
I look forward to reading your blogs and find them very entertaining and interesting. Please keep blogging.
Jill in Alabama
Hahahaaa Tavi, you’re right – the just b jealz~~
Don’t worry, Jill. I don’t think any of us plan on shutting down our blogs any time soon – or ever!
Thanks again everyone!
Ignore the waste-oids who harrass you. Yeah, I know, it’s hard. Do it anyway. In a few years, none of this teenage social-structure matters and you’ll be the better person, the better writer, the better spouse and better artist. Hang in there.
Thanks, Sean.
Hey, Spencer. I hear the same stuff a few times a day at the website I work for and it can be draining. It can make it hard to do some days. But I’m learning to shake it off. For every negative comment I hear, I hear 10 good ones. And more and more people are reading us than ever before. And as for you, well, you’ve got a lot of fans on the Chicagoist staff and I’d say in a few years you’d have my job, but the fact is, as good as your stuff is, you’re destined for bigger, better things, sir. Keep up the fantastic work and don’t sweat the haterade.
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