People watching with a RSS reader
One of my favorite things to do is people watch. I have discovered how to do this even online. In my Google reader, I have subscriptions for several library blogs: librarian.net, LibrarianInBlack, Librarians with Class, Libraries Matter, and many more; I follow library websites so I can see what other libraries are up to; I subscribe to several reader’s advisory blogs; I follow some friends and family’s personal blogs; some online magazines; and so on…
But I also make sure I read at least one blog by someone I don’t know at all, who lives a life that I would never probably encounter anywhere else. Like the nature photographer in Utah, who writes a travel blog and posts amazing nature pictures from places she travels; like the lesbian Episcopal priest in upper New York (mother and grandmother to 17 foster children and grandchildren) who wrote about her feelings during the church schism over Gene Robinson’s ordination; and the New York University student who wrote about her New York Puerto Rican family and neighborhood before she went off and joined the Peace Corp. Blogs are a great way to spend some time walking in someone else’s shoes. And they are a great way to people watch.
