What is up with blogging so much?

Enjoying the back view of Akre

The idea of writing this post came to me after I skimmed through Martha Stewart’s blog, “The Life of a Busy Wife”. I found a post on her blog where she goes on to talk about the reasons she blogs. So, my dear readers, have you bothered to think about why I blog? Here are some questions, followed by my answers to them.

1. If I could sum up myself and my blog in one paragraph, what would I say?

I am vocal, a ball of energy and rather jumpy person, who bounces around from one station to another, from one topic to another and from one thing to another. I am an academician and am so committed to my students and work. I am dedicated and faithful to those around, and would be there for them 100% even if I may not agree with all their actions. I like to call myself a “busy bee”. I always have to be doing something. I think that my blog comes off like this too, although I know it does bother people that I jump from topic to topic. What can I say; I like to keep people on their toes! 🙂

2. How would I describe my blog?

Woah, what a rough question! When I first started writing my blog, I was pretty interpersonal, and really over-thought what I was writing about, and you could tell by reading that I let it out. I guess over time, I loosened up and really just started writing about things I enjoyed and then things that bothered me. I must admit that I started writing more, ever since I made the step to move back to Kurdistan. Before my prior commitments to Kurdistan, my goal was to present a professional figure of Helene, who could multi-task, show pride in her cultural and religious practices while keeping up her crazy habits. Now that I am in Kurdistan, my goal has semi-shifted. I am leaning more toward raising awareness about things that demand attention and change in the region, things that I enjoy and things that I just feel like writing about. I like to write about things I never thought about doing, having grown up in America; e.g. teaching with no power or losing power in the middle of lecturing. I also like to tell my blog readers in the West to appreciate what they have. In the meantime, I also like to write about simple things that just make me love living in Kurdistan; as simple as having old pickup truck with a bed full of rusty gas canisters that drives around our neighborhood playing ice cream truck music.

3. What motivates me to blog?

When I started to write my blog, I went into it with the idea of just joining a community of amazing blogs that I read (and loved), and to channel some of my energy into something that would give the Kurds in the Diaspora an image of what is happening in the region. I just like to write about things, and never go into it. I am always going to blog about a certain thing. I am motivated to write about things based on what I see and hear throughout the day.

4. Why do I come back to the internet to write each day?

I just love writing, and it really gets my day started in a wonderful way. Writing can be a stress reliever. If something bothers me, I find it helpful to open up my MacBook and then I find myself typing about things that bothered me or excited me that day. It is almost like a meditation to me, just taking a few minutes to write about something I am thinking about, as silly or serious as it may be. It is part of my morning ritual, and I now feel lost when I don’t do it.

5. Why should anyone read my blog?

             One of my favorite blogs is Summer, at B is for Brownie. Her blog posts are so