Why Blog?

A blog in its infancy can be many things. Some are meant only for the eyes of people who personally know the author. That’s how my first started. It later evolved into something meant for those in the CBYX (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange; a student exchange program to Germany funded by the Department of State) and student-exchange circle as some kind of repayment for all the help I had gleaned from the much better kept blogs of those who had come before me. Its demise came from a change of heart. As the honeymoon period of the exchange ended, I began to feel that the experience itself was far more of a personal, private journey than something to be broadcast for the world to (have the slight chance) to read. This one, however, feels different. I am intending on writing to a much wider audience than before. It therefore necessitates a different style of writing. One less entrenched in metaphor and grand prose, and more focused on actionability and clarity.

The first topical post was a test in this writing style. It maintains a narrative while also providing my best attempt at a fairly balanced overview of my time at Minerva and the events that brought me there. At the moment, it’s been viewed 143 times. That’s better than most posts on my previous blog. It does have a much wider possible audience. Minerva (Minerva Schools at KGI; I am a member of its first graduating class) had around 16,000 applicants this year while AFS CBYX is roughly estimated at around 700. (Very rough number) The post was shared on my Newsfeed and was seen by many, if not a majority of current Minerva students. Debate about the school is a popular pastime, everyone has their own opinion about the goings-on.

The second post took a sharply divergent tack from the first. Instead of discussing more higher-education issues it addresses credit cards. Why? That post is also an experiment. I have read much on credit cards lately, as I have been playing bonus games in order to allow me to travel for Minerva on a much smaller cost-basis than expected. At my current age and earning power, it makes sense to go to seemingly ridiculous lengths to save relatively small sums ($200 — $700). The topic at hand also intersects my career interests. I love finance dearly. When macro-trends affect first-hand decisions and benefits I can’t help but be interested. When this intersection intersects with my other passion, traveling; I double-down on it.

My interest in disparate subjects was also the impetus for changing the way the front page of the blog is structured. The top menu options are tag searches so if someone is only interested in travel, they don’t have to read about college admissions battlefield and vice-versa. I want one blog that addresses many fields of interest as opposed to the segmented blogs and blogs-cum-media-properties that have become so salient in various niches the world over. That is certainly not to say that there is anything wrong with that segmentation.

That said, writing to a blog is like shouting into the wind. Nay, it’s really like sending out Voyager and expecting extraterrestrials to find it and respond. There is simply too much information produced each day. The odds of anyone finding their way here without ad spend and serious back-linking are infinitesimally small. Why write it in the first place, then? I guess, it’s practice for the future. Practice distilling a multitude of resources into one brief, cohesive piece and taking a position on whatever subject it is. It’s also deeper research into my own interests that I wouldn’t do otherwise. Trying to write an evidence-based post on any subject leads you down roads, and to conclusions that you would have never come to if you weren’t writing.

Hope is there too. I have hope that someday, someone will come across this blog while searching and find something that helps them. If it’s my high tolerance of fine print that finds a trap that others missed and I can save some random person a penalty, then it is worth it. If it is adding a valuable insight into one of the most important decisions of a young person’s life, then all the effort has paid off. A blog in its earliest form really is like an infant. It can become anything. It still has that genuine naïve sense of hope before the weight of the world comes crushing down upon it. Its potential is unlimited so long as it’s cared for. 

So, 

Dear,

That one, pseudo-random person who can possibly be helped by something I have written, come. I’m waiting for you. You’re the real reason I write.

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