Activity 9 - Maria Popa

After a long search, I finally found an urban life blog that caught my attention - http://ps-chicagodailyphoto.blogspot.com/. Although this blog shows the city of Chicago only through photographs, it does accurately depict the diversity of the city. These beautiful photographs vary from skyscrapers lighting up the Chicago skyline, buildings covered in graffiti, interesting sculptures and architecture, and people going about their regular lives. One picture that especially captivated me was “Snow Showers.” The picture is blurry and the colors fade into each other, which to me shows the fast paced life style of the city and the blending of the various cultures within the city.

One of my favorite blogs was - http://londonwriting.blogspot.com/. This blog details the experiences of an American woman living in London. Her entries are well written, funny, and brief, which only made me want to read more. Her entries vary from urban shopping experiences, museum expositions, fashion trends and the daily routine. She talks about adjusting to life in London, and every time she talks about a new aspect of London she compares it to life in the U.S and it seems like she would rather be here. Despite her critical attitude, she defends herself in almost every single entry saying that she enjoys living in London.

Another blog I enjoyed was - http://mylifeinhayes.blogspot.com/, which details a woman’s life in San Francisco. I liked the simplicity of it; the pictures and the short entries focus on a single subject and make the blog very enjoyable to read. The brief entries focus on subjects varying from local coffee shops, surviving rush hour traffic, and parking issues. One of her blog entries is about her visit to New York in which she talks about encounters rude as well as friendly strangers, as well as feeling star struck while sitting next to Lou Reed and Antony Hegarty , even though I have no idea who they are.

I finally narrowed my search to read what other bloggers thing about New York. One of my favorite was http://sowonderfulandglamorous.blogspot.com/. The author talks about places in the city such as bars, stores, and local events varying from sample sales, happy hour specials, and new store openings. I think tourists would find this blog useful because it provides them with ideas of what to do around the city. Locals will also be interested because the blog focuses on daily things we all go through, like choosing fruit at the fruit stands, the MTA fair hike, and other urban issues. Another New York based blog was - http://anglo-brooklyn.blogspot.com. This blog follows an English man’s life in Brooklyn. His entries discuss everything from the local public school’s art project, to the magnificence of the sunset. Although many of his blogs focus on household tasks and walking his dogs, it offers a different side of living in NYC than what our blog does.

After my extensive research of urban life blogs, I now look differently at blogs. I’m surprised to see how passionate people are about blogging about their lives and their cities, simply for their pleasure and not just because they are required to do so for a college class. I left a comment on each of these blogs including my reaction to their entries and a link to our blog, encouraging them to read about experiences of New York.