graffiti with punctuation?

Ron and I were watching a movie the other day and there was a line in it that I can't seem to get out of my head. One of the characters was speaking in a disparaging way about blogging. I'm paraphrasing but he said something like "blogging is just graffiti with punctuation"! Hmmpf! I was immediately offended. Here is the definition of graffiti from dictionary.com -

graf·fi·ti

   [gruh-fee-tee]  Show IPA

noun

1.

plural of graffito.

2.

( used with a plural verb ) markings, as initials, slogans, ordrawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk,wall of a building or public restroom, or the like: These graffiti are evidence of the neighborhood's decline.

I haven't been blogging for very long, but I do enjoy it and would hate to think that there is anything negative about it. I have tried to keep a journal for years. I have many (probably over 20) beautiful journals in many different colors and covers that I bought or was given. None of them are blank. None of them are filled. Most of them have as many as 20 pages written on with my thoughts or poems or just phrases of ideas. For whatever reason, I would get busy or never found a good time to sit and write in the journal. Blogging is easier for me because it's truly easier on my hands to type on my laptop rather than write in a journal. The fact that I post the things I've written - well, I guess that's the graffiti part. 

When I was in high school and college (seems like hundreds of years ago), one of my faraway dreams was to be a published writer. I wanted to write great works of fiction that would move people to tears or epic poetry that would inspire people. I have considered children's literature. I even thought that I might write the story of my life someday. Unfortunately, the more I read - because I used to read voraciously - the more insecure I would feel about my writing. I never thought what I wrote would measure up to great works of literature. So I stopped trying.

Then along came my children. When my eldest daughter, jb, moved to Washington, DC, she started blogging - it was called "jb in dc" and I loved it. It was a great way for her to communicate with the family without having to write to us individually. I started encouraging Beckie, the writer of my girls, to start a blog as well. She hemmed and hawed about it for a long time then challenged me to start blogging. She said that she would do it if I did it. Hmmm. What an interesting idea...

So here it is a little more than 2 years since my first blog post. I have no delusions that anything written here in my silly little blog will ever be considered great writing. I write my thoughts, my movie reviews and my observations about my life and the world and put them OUT THERE. I guess that is something like graffiti. Now that I'm older I have less insecurities about people reading what I write. I will never write anything here that I wouldn't say out loud in a room full of people - if you have been in that room with me you know firsthand that I talk a lot! 

I will end this particular rant by saying that personally I like graffiti (as long as it's colorful and without profanity). I photograph it whenever I have the chance...here are a couple of works of art that I saw in NYC on our recent trip. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.