On Twitter: @BWBConference

Website: http://bloggingwhilebrown.com

Today I leave again for Chicago to attend BloggingWhileBrown; a conference for Brown folks who blog.  Now you might be saying, “Adria, aren’t you the one who prides yourself in staying on on Saturday nights?”.  To that I would answer yes…BUT this year has been one of awakening and that has occurred through the very tiny yet powerful tool known as Twitter.

I’m Not A “Real” Blogger

I have been able to meet so many bloggers who have told me their stories of blogging that it has created a sense of “belonging” to the blogging world.  I seriously pictured “bloggers” as people with lots of time on their hands with master’s degrees in English or literature.  I felt like an outsider trying to crash someone else’s party.

Taste The Rainbow

I found blogs by techies, people who help others, local bloggers, funny bloggers, sad bloggers, smartass bloggers, political bloggers, crazy bloggers (seriously, I mean dangerous), introverted bloggers, MENSA bloggers, mommy bloggers, gay bloggers, teacher bloggers, food bloggers (NOM, NOM, NOM!), DIY home repair bloggers, IKEA bloggers, librarian bloggers, emo bloggers, very young bloggers, paranoid bloggers and finally black bloggers.

Unicorns and Black Bloggers

In this last group, I just had no idea.  I thought the world of blogging was pretty much run by White guys and gals with lots of time on their hands.  I then thought if there were “Black Bloggers” and they were united, would it be just to say, “The Man is keeping us down!”?.  I’m happy to report that is not the case at all!

Planting My Blogger Flag

Early on, I decided it was important that I put a picture or avatar on my blog and talk about my being biracial.  I hoped to dispel the myths and sterotypes around “Who is a techie” and who wasn’t.  I still felt quite lonely on this front.

Getting to Know Bloggers Like Me

One of the first Brown bloggers I met was Erica, also known as @swirlspice on Twitter.  Erica has several active blogs of her own and also is part of many local blogs in Minneapolis.  Of course, we met via Twitter vs the blogsphere.  Through Erica’s story of attending BarCamp’s and blogging, a new “blogview” began to open up for me.  Suddenly, I was finding Brown bloggers everywhere!  Actually, one of the first things I did when I started using Twitter was to look for and follow Brown people who looked interesting.  The first two people to fit this description were @waynesutton and then @kenyatta.

In the end, it reminds me of the Clark study where researchers did testing on young Black children regarding their doll preference and perceptions of self.  I’m including a video here of Kiri Davis who repeated an informal version of the study and got pretty much the same results.

Being able to find and then connect with authentic people, like me, has helped me become more willing to try things that I thought were “not for me” and I’m grateful for this awareness.

See you all at the conference!