jeje…i JEST. but what elenamary said about being inspired and learning. i don’t care ’bout Policy Change or Measuring Cups. it’s people being affected and carrying their new self forward into myriad interactions that are the most important changes to me.

it’s funny, because i used to denounce the internet in eveyr way possible, and especially blog triumphalists. but i’ve had my mind changed by seeing enough of these effects, and in experiencing my own growth from reading people’s minds and hearts that i’d never have the chance to know without blogs. now if only THEY had named them something different, i’d be truly happy.

so i come back to my original statement: it all depends on what blogs one is reading….

and why is your form calling me “elenamary”?

Oso, your blog has empowered you to continue with the white man soap box. It has empowered you to be answer to everyones question about anal bleaching and perhaps other serious topics that are googled and lead to you.

Hi! Your question presupposes important change as one that manifests in policy change! Or one that can be measured…how?

I cannot answer in that light and still please my own sense of truth.

If you were to pore over the comments in my blog as well as the incoming links and discussions (this is NOT a suggestion that you should, only one meant to predicate the next statement) you would see many people positively affected by sharing in the process of honesty and change that I am trying so hard for. THAT to me is a sign of amazing progress.

If ten people make one true shift in their approach; one actual change in their thinking; one earnest attempt at being something better than they were, we really couldn’t ask more from such a thing as a blog, regarding making changes in the world. After all, you know how it is. We are radioactive beings. We affect those around us, and like that creepy shampoo commercial, our interactions branch out in myriad directions.

But that is not the measure of my success, nor the goalpost I aim for, to be perfectly honest. It would be awfully grand for me to say as much. Really, I am only online to document a journey I am making. The rest is a gift. To whom, I’d be afraid to assert definitely.

No wonder no one took you seriously.

I am amazed at your tenacity (you do admit that your initial description was half-hearted). You keep participating in these forums where it seems like most of the participants are more interested in navel gazing than reexamining the implications of the new medium.

I doubt that my blog empowers me. If anything it distracts me from engaging the activities that would and that could make a difference. So perhaps I should recuse myself from any further discussion.

But if I do have anything to say in the future, I will make sure I wear a sports coat…