Trying to convince a friend of mine to become a bridge blogger seems to be a little bit more difficult than I suspected. Besides the usual fear of “who will read my posts?”, there is the “I don’t want everyone to read about my life!”. So in an attempt to create some peace of mind, I figured the best thing to do would be to collect a larger sample of what some people are writing in this area, hoping to assemble a set of best practices for newbies. Something that would look like this:
- You are priviledge for knowing a place in the world that most people don’t. Blog with a genuine sense of awe.
- You have plenty to offer to your new home, a cultural context that makes you unique. Use that filter when you write.
- As a migrant, you must recognize that others will come after you. Leave a trail.
- You are helping awaken a sense of global unity. Promote our Global Culture
Certainly is not big, but it is a beginning. While reading around for inspiration, I came across an article posted in GlobalVoices entitled Blogging in Exile, originally written by Sebastian Delmont. In the article, he provides a point of view on the relationship between bloggers & exiles:
In the solitude of a new and strange city, blogs become the virtual connection to old friends, to family, to known places. Even those who are enjoying their new life find in blogs the perfect tool to maintain relationships with all the people back home.
He even goes as far as to imply that
I believe that all bloggers living abroad leave in search of new destinations simply to have something to blog about, and because there is no better way to get new links than to make new friends in a new city. I dare to claim that bloggers immigrate abroad in search of new posts and a better page rank.
While this seems to be a very blog-centric view of a phenomenom much more complex such as migration (read previous post migration with intent), I was happy to find a list of a few Latin American bloggers creating bridges very nicely:
Hi, Juan. Thanks for mentioning my blog. I didn’t start the blog with the intention to create bridges, but if that is a consequense of it, then is a good one. The intention was always to write about my experiences, some more intimate than others within the nostalgia that I feel of being away from my country Venezuela.