The Next Blog

Feel like traveling but can't get away from the house? Spend an hour or so clicking on Blogger's "Next Blog" link, and you'll find yourself wandering blogs from all over the world.

Before recently embarking on my own "Next Blog" journey, I had been confused as to why my site received seemingly random visitors from locations such as Paraguay, Quebec, London and Iran in addition to America. Once I had finished my journey, though, I understood: simply by clicking "Next Blog," I too could travel into and learn about alternate realities through the minds of various world characters.

On my "Next Blog" journey, I reached the sites of all sorts of intriguing bloggers in unique life situations. I visited, for example, a blog that provides updates to a 7th grade Social Studies class (and their parents) in Southern California; it includes recent instructions for a History Day project and a hint for extra credit on an upcoming final.

I also indulged in the classroom experiences of a student-teacher; and I read about one woman's preparations for her move to Norway, where her husband will further his studies. I even found the blog of a Lutheran pastor from Anchorage, Alaska, who included a post on Evangelist Rick Warren's dubious denial of any relation to the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda. I especially enjoyed the artistic sensibilities of "Bloody Crafts," which showcases Bloody Bunny tote bags, iPhone holders and other products bearing the blogger's original designs.

My favorite discovery of the evening? The blog of a talented Etch-A-Sketch artist who cooly replicates an image of The Breakfast Club. Of course, I am now a follower of this blog and several others; and I am interested in seeing what sorts of worldly information I can glean from the authors' future postings. I encourage you to click on chance too, and check out the next blog! You just may like what you find.