The mission of VatulBlog is as follows: To leave behind a free, searchable repository of data, research and a somewhat coherent set of my thoughts about geoscience, computing, the internet, Project Gutenberg, disaster, diaspora, culture navigation and, lately, living in New Orleans.
In 1991, this high schooler, who didn’t foresee weblogs, began to write email missives to friends on the topics of politics and science education. The ones that resembled essays were translated into HTML/XML/PHP and archived on old incarnations of my website. Proto-bloggerette then found Blogspot in 2002 (reluctantly) and, two years ago, WordPress (eagerly). Each discussion of import that dozed in the annals of my various email Inboxes was funneled into a Maitri post and out it went.
Why the painful details of my blog-volution? Information is power. Knowledge is power. When I find potentially-useful information and create it through discussion or thought, I share it so that many learn from it (including me, who always learns more from further discussion).
In a recent email, Michael Hart of Project Gutenberg said, “One believes knowledge is power means don’t share it and I remark that this leaves a world filled with darkness. The other believes that knowledge is power means share it, and I remark that this leaves a world filled with light. ‘Tis better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.” The power of my knowledge is in giving it away so that we all know that much more, the world is that much better to live in. For me, there is no money or personal power to be gained from information archival and dissemination. VatulBlog is the online manifestation of that ethic.
This philosophy was underscored during and after Katrina. A displaced resident of New Orleans and a loud civic voice, I had no stomach for superficial news and what Christiane Amanpour describes well as “happy-camper war-and-disaster-zone travelogue” (HT, Ray). I was confused and frustrated from not knowing what was going on with the city, so I pacified myself by stepping in as a reporter and turning VatulBlog into a bullhorn in the NOLA PA system network. This was my catharsis and each time I received an encouraging comment, letter or phone call from an anonymous émigré, it reminded me that I was not alone, others were suffering a lot more and I had to keep writing.
My blog was a single candle. Soon, I found other candles like WetBankGuide, GulfSails and Gentilly Girl and the shining beacon that is Think New Orleans, which shares a lot of my own standards on knowledge work, information, content, archival and sharing. The fire caught from there. Writing about New Orleans over and above their jobs, not as their jobs – the woes, the recovery, the administrative blunders from the federal government on down and our own exploration of identity and the nature of self in a city hit by an unnatural disaster – all of the NOLA blogs linked to from my site share that conscience and that personal touch. A greater free, searchable, linked repository of news, data, research and a somewhat coherent set of thoughts on the re-discovery of ourselves.
It was also through this blog that I found Sepia Mutiny, the vibrant and thoughtful salve to that within me which is Indian, Kuwaiti, American and everything in between.
As I told someone yesterday, “One cannot talk about the truth of anything unless one has lived it, and I cannot for the life of me begin to see the truth [in New Orleans] even while going through this for almost a year now.” Sixteen years after fleeing Kuwait, I don’t know its truth. VatulBlog is not here to give you the truth. It is here to provide information so that you make your own choice. Having a sea of options and viewpoints makes a more enlightened human being. What you make of it is the truth, your truth.
I don’t suggest that one ought not to make money from writing, even if it is using the blog medium. After all, Chris Cooper and Robert Block are Rising Tide‘s keynote speakers and they are making money off a book which we support. In fact, I’ve purchased the book, as I did those of Brinkley, Ray (yes, our Ray), Codrescu, Rose and Piazza. But, these people are professionals, the children of New Orleans, its writers and ambassadors even before the storm and providing a lasting chunk of wonderfully-written and researched information heretofore unseen.
New Orleans is not my domain, anyone on this planet can write about it, but I would encourage those who know it the most and can offer original perspective and news that really helps, whether it makes them money or not. VatulBlog and my principles are completely within my jurisdiction, however, and I cannot give space within it to those who wish to make money from what has already been done and will continue to happen here.
A deep bow to Project Gutenberg, Sepia Mutiny, Think New Orleans, the New Orleans bloggers and every real information seeker and giver on earth.
As someone who has never lived in New Orleans and only visited twice, one of the most valuable things I have found about your blog is what a personal insight you offer to what is happening there. Even if I do not follow along with every detail, it has tempered my perspective on Katrina and Katrina’s aftermath. When I hear a news report about some special interest piece regarding NO, I immediately wonder what your take on it is. And even though that seems really small, I think it’s really important to hear news with a skeptical ear, or with more thought towards its subject. I like to wonder: would Maitri be pleased that NPR is covering this or would she rather they focus on this other aspect of New Orleans? I know it sounds stupid, but that has been really meaningful to me.
And also, there is this: you rock! Which is another big reason I am glad you blog. ;)
Beautiful post, Maitri. Perfect.
Out of all the sites and blogs that I frequent daily, yours is my most valued and trusted. Thanks for keeping me informed. Your words mean a tremendous amount in my world.
Thank you for this post. I’ve been reading Loki’s blog since Katrina partly because I wanted to know what was going on in N.O. and partly because I miss the loud ranting voice of my dear friend…but I’ve been curious about the “why” of blogging and this has helped. So thanks again.
It’s good for everyone to do a post like this once in a while. Makes me think about why I blog, too. Thanks, Maitri, for your openness and sincerity. My favorite part:
“VatulBlog is not here to give you the truth. It is here to provide information so that you make your own choice. Having a sea of options and viewpoints makes a more enlightened human being. What you make of it is the truth, your truth.”
Well said.
Excellent post! The more we write these the better!
Maitri, you summed up so much of what I feel being a Blogger in this city at this point in time is all about. Keep it up! *curtsey*
BRAVO! (Seems to be my word of the day.)
Here is why I blog. We live in a time and a place where there is no answer to the question, will it get better? Cause we know it could still get worse. What makes it better you ask, bear witness I tell you. See the story say the story. And one day we will blog roll this thing into a big fat document of the Hell and Glory Days in New Orleans
i was just thinking about what do we know in new orleans that the rest of the country will know soon? we know that forces greater than imaginable can reach directly into your life and turn your world upsidedown overnight. we know the confused fear of evacuation, the ironic gratitude and indignation of the refugee, the bone deep ache of uprootedness, the determination to return and the shock in the aftermath of catastrophe. we know what remains of your home after the loss of your house, and what remains of your neighborhood after the loss of your streets.
we have learned to take the blows that fate and folly serves up. now our opportunity is to retain our soulfulness whilst we regain our footing. we are
challenged to overcome disillusionment, doubt and fatigue, to shake off the stun and stay. we can do this.
seeing new orleans now is like seeing your good friend after she just got the stuffing beaten out of her. it is a most intimate and precious moment for a loving hand to be there reaching out to help bring the old girl to.
You are a beautiful spirit. I value your very essence. Thank you for what you offer to each and every one of us. Together we share, together we learn, together we are Katrina dissidents and citizens striving for a better world.
Failure is not an option.
Soulfully put. I watched the video of you today on peopleofneworleans taped in may. You know who you are and NO is the better for you living there.