Friday Five: Blogging on Blogging

A somewhat navel-gazing Friday Five, but fun nonetheless:

If you are a regular reader of Songbird's
blog, you know that "The Princess" has requested a new name. Her
older brother changed his "secret identity" a while back and now this lovely
young lady is searching for a new name on her mother's blog. This got me to
thinking. How do we come up with all of these names? There must be at least a
few good stories out there.1. So how did you come up with your blogging
name? And/or the name of your blog?
2. Are there any code names or
secret identities in your blog? Any stories there?
3. What are some
blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy
fun?
4. What three blogs are you devoted to? Other than the
RevGalBlogPals of course!
5. Who introduced you to the world of
blogging and why?
Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging
friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?As always, we
want to read what you have to say. I will check in at least once in the morning
before getting in my car to drive home from a business trip. But I promise to
read everyone's post when I get to my own little house.

1. My blogger name is no big secret: Rev Scott is pretty self-explanatory. My blog name comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Discipleship, which is Nachfolge in German. It means “Following After,” and I chose it both because it’s German (which I love, though I actually speak very little) and because it’s a fair description of how I see life – ergo my blog subtitle, “Following Jesus in the Real World.” Being a Christian is not a matter of hiding away from anything, or trying to change the world to fit my Christianity; it’s a matter of being faithful in all places and with all people, trying to live as Jesus lived, meeting people where they are but caring enough to help them become something new. Not that I’m Jesus or anything, or that I’m always successful, but it is the lens through which I try to see my life and the world in which I live.

2. My blog has never been particularly anonymous, certainly not where I’m concerned. For a while I tried to keep the names of my family out of it as well, but frankly, I’m not smart enough to do the anonymous thing well. Generally, if it’s not appropriate to share publicly, I don’t post about it anymore. I’ve made some mistakes along the way, mostly out of hurt or anger, like most of us, and I’ve learned to blog with the same rules as email: never, EVER blog angry (unless it’s Pat Robertson who’s making me angry. YOU SUCK, PAT!)

3. I’ve always loved Gordon Atkinson’s Real Live Preacher. “Freshly Ground & Freshly Brewed” by Hot Cup Lutheran and “New! Now In Lutheran Flavor!” make me smile, as does Tripp Hudgins’ “Conjectural Navel Gazing: Jesus in Lint Form.” My friend Matt’s “Confessions of a Lutheran Husker” gets him about as close as you could get him, and I suppose that’s the goal all of us are after, huh? There are others – Milton’s “Don’t Eat Alone” is a good one. I know I’m leaving folks out but it’s early and I want to try to get this done before Ainsley wakes up.

4. The cool thing about using Mozilla Firefox is that you can open up an entire category of websites under the Bookmarks Toolbar, so I’ve got a TON of blogs filed that I just open up all at once, and I try to hit them every day. A Church For Starving Artists and Don’t Eat Alone always provide something great to read. Heather Armstrong over at Dooce is a foul-mouthed, artistic, loving parent and writer, and really, really funny. Hot Cup and I have much in common even though we’ve never met, so I always check in on her (but I’m not so good at leaving comments). But there are about 40 or so that I regularly check, so this is just a sampling.

5. My camp buddy Jeremy introduced me to blogging, which is funny because he’s not been posting a lot since he moved to Berkely to attend PLTS – he used to be a once-a-day poster at the least. Why? I dunno – because it was cool?

Bonus: I met Cheesehead, RevKim & RevDave at the Festival of Homiletics in Minnesota this year. Other than those three, I’ve yet to meet many, though I’m always up for coffee and conversation – if you’re in Ames, stop on by!