Introduction: The Kairos of Blogs & The Desire for Recognition

Everybody’s got a story to tell. Whether it’s a visit to the grandparents’ and listening to the hoary old “back in my day, we walked 25 miles to school…on a dirt road…covered in snow…through howling wind…in the middle of an air raid” story, or something more substantial like an autobiography, we’re all familiar with the clarion call to somehow at once validate our existences and, seemingly infinitely more important, make others care about our trials and tribulations. Such is the appeal of the weblog. Untold millions of Internet-savvy computer users have access to a burgeoning variety of blogging sites, and the subclasses of such blogs are nearly as numerous. Animal blogs! Personal blogs! Business blogs! Political blogs! Sex blogs! No topic, it seems, is too obscure or taboo to warrant its own personal blog ring.