Tweetup

I feel silly, friends, that after just recently complaining that my blog has taken on too journal-like a style when I wrote about my attendance at a blogger-oriented event, I am again going to write about my attendance at yet another blogger-oriented event: the "Tweetup" (a word I've found to make a lot more sense written than spoken). Though considering, it's not quite antithetical to record my experiences meeting bloggers here, since it's a blog-related experience (still, I'd rather my blog be filled with more "substance" posts). In fact to me meeting bloggers is not only a social event, it's an experiment of sorts. An experiment attempting to discover what sort of real-life individual ends up writing a blog, and in what way they represent and express themselves different than in reality. You see, if nine out of ten of every Jewish pedestrian strolling down Avenue J in Brooklyn every day was a blog author the need for the experiment wouldn't be so pressing. But as it stands there's only a handful of people who find their ideas important enough that they feel a need to express them online, which is what tells me that these people are unique, and that their words are worth some analysis.

Anyway, I unfortunately came to the place where it was to be held with the intention to leave, since I didn't think I would recognize anyone there, not to mention the event coincided almost exactly with an important exam for my school-career. It was sort of a shame though, since, aside from those I had met in the past, there were many individuals there who I knew about through the Internet but had not yet met. I said hello to Moshe, met Jacob the Jew, and a woman with an unusual idea introduced herself to us. Elke Sudin's blog is actually only a prototype for a book she wishes to create. As someone who's been spending extensive amounts of time in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn for the first time, I found her message interesting; a contrast of similarities between the elegant and urban ('White') European-Americans that reside in Williamsburg and the Chassidim who have long been a trademark of that neighborhood. As someone who's seen the contrast first-hand....well, let's just say such a book would pique the curiosity of many a bookstore-goer.

Another two members of the blogging community who I didn't expect to see were the authors of the Frum Female (who I commend for following my blog!) and Wolfish Musings (who himself has a good fourty follwers) blogs (the latter of whom I was later able to have an extensive discussion with on the train). Both relatively well-known, yet prefer to stay as anonymous as possible. A little latter Mottel arrived with his wife and filled-out the Chabad-blogger niche in the gathering. There were obviously a few Twitter updaters, but since I'm still generally at a loss as to what the purpose of Twitter is, I wasn't able to comprehend their contributions as much as I was those of the bloggers.

All in all it was interesting to see all of them, and Heshy Fried is commendable for being an arbiter of pulling it together (for no apparent financial gain). Perhaps there will be more in the future.. The only down-side was that those social interactions stuck a little too tightly in my head while I was later trying to take my exam...