Freedom of speech is such a weird thing. Every time I write something on this blog, I wonder if it’s going to come back and haunt me some day. That could be my over inflated sense of ego, or my extreme concern for not wanting to hurt others feelings. Either way, I do criticize and make political points here from time to time. Everyone has a right to voice her/his opinion.

Still, the ever flowing venom that oozes from many bloggers’ fingertips as they type feels like reality television. People create all these dramas, trash other bloggers, reporters and people (read: celebrities) to drive traffic to their sites. I get it: the more drama there is, the more likely people are to watch/read. But, if Jon & Kate Plus 8 has taught us anything (I almost linked to their website, and stopped myself because this is exactly the kind of dehumanization I wish to subside), we’ve learned people are tired of it. We understand it’s all orchestrated. I hope we do, at least. The backbiting and underhanded writing about people in our own artistic communities is overly political, divisive and childish.

There, of course, is plenty of room for constructive criticism in all aspects of life. This blog, I hope, represents that. We are in an age where we are more interconnected than ever before. When we trash our fellow human beings, we really trash ourselves. I know this touchy-feely blogging may sound cheesy or lame. Fine. The anger that these other venomous blogs bring up in the community at large are not what I wish to put out there.

There’s an old adage: Inside of me there are two dogs. One dog is vicious and destructive. The other is gentle and kind. The vicious dog constantly fights the kind dog. Which dog wins? Answer – the one I feed the most.

Here’s some beauties encouraging and enlightening the collective kind dog:

Ashley Austin’s blog explores all things graphic and crafty.
http://lovelypiecesdesign.blogspot.com

The Hart sisters update on good foods they enjoy and create.
http://www.mousebouche.blogspot.com

And, Qui Nguyen muses on play writing, his theatre company, Vampire Cowboys, and thoughts to his unborn son (who’s now joyfully joined us in this world!).
http://beyondabsurdity.blogspot.com

These places celebrate creativity and don’t stir up drama for drama’s sake. I like the freshness of what they share, and I hope as I continue to follow them they feed my own creativity in exciting ways.

Reluctantly, I recently joined Tumblr. “Another social networking site, really?” Surprisingly, I’m finding it tons of fun. As they self-profess, Tumblr is more of a scrapbook than a typical rant and rave blog. It also allows the user to re-blog and favorite items so they automatically appear in one’s own Tumblr feed. I’ve just started playing there, but every day I find my eyes exploding from the visual candied popcorn appearing in my feed (which dog do you feed?).

I know there’s negativity everywhere, and we can all say what we want. That’s how it works, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. All in all, though, this sharing style is more up my ally. All I can do is work on myself, but in the mean time I’ll attempt to keep the positivity high here in hopes of creating a better world in which we can all help the kind dog win in the end.