Blue Bird
: Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Blue Bird — the Iranian/American teen who blogged so eloquently about her return to Tehran recently — with her parents and her brother, a prominent online Iranian himself, on their vacation trip to New York. It was a delightful lunch with some very nice people. And I’m glad to see that Blue Bird got herself a digital camera (I merely recommended the best place to buy it).
I tell you all this because I marvel, once again, at the ability of this weblog and Internet thing of ours to bring people together.
By chance, I found Iranian weblogs and then found Blue Bird’s. I wrote about them and linked to them. They linked to me. Conversation began (and a few arguments). Education ensued (and I learned a great deal). Connections were made (and friendships formed).
But these are connections that in no way could have been made otherwise.
In a sense, a meeting via weblog is as serendipitous as the seating on an airplane: You can find yourself sitting next to someone you would not otherwise have met and end up having a conversation and learning and connecting. But in that case, you don’t get to peer into the thoughts and heart and soul of the person next to you before connecting — as you can do through weblogs.
So then is a meeting via weblog more like writing to an author after you’ve read his or her book? No, because that’s so one-sided and one-to-many.
No, this weblog and Internet thing of ours is new and special and powerful in ways we still don’t fully understand. I just know that it’s thanks to weblogs that I had a wonderful lunch with some new friends.
