In Which The Narrator Elaborates on Her Intent

"There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know until he takes up a pen to write."
-William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond

For a long time I was vehemently opposed to the idea of personal blogging. The rise in popularity of such websites as Xanga and LiveJournal when I was in high school, with the angsty, teenage, I-hate-my-life kind of writing they sported, led me to believe that journaling should stay in actual journals, where it belonged, away from public eyes. I remained with the attitude that diary entries belonged in diaries, not on the internet. As an avid diarist myself (I began when I was 12 years old and continued regularly through high school, and less regularly through college) I couldn't imagine the things I wrote in those journals being broadcast on the World Wide Web. And that's the way it was.

It was only very recently that my views about personal narrative and the internet changed. It becomes more and more apparent to me that in today's world almost everything revolves around the internet (I realize I might be a little late to this party, but at least I've arrived). Additionally, I am finally beginning to see myself as someone who has something to say - not just to a piece of lined paper, but to whomever wishes to read it. And while I'm not exactly sure what that "something" is, I plan on finding out here.

And that, in short, is the premise for beginning this blog.


P.S. A word about the title of this blog and my reasons for it: The title comes from my favorite book, Vanity Fair, by my (subsequently) favorite author, William Makepeace Thackeray. (If you were paying attention, the quote at the beginning of this post also comes from a W.M.T. novel). The novel's heroine, Becky Sharp (that's her at the top of the page), is a social climber who through her wit, charm, and (above all) intelligence is able to rise from humble beginnings to enjoy an opulent lifestyle without actually paying any money to maintain it. Here's what all this has to do with me: as a recent college graduate just beginning the rest of my life, I see myself as, metaphorically, starting with nothing. My challenge is to take that "nothing," learn from it, and, by consequence, live well.