I’m a question mark.

Before I started this blog and attached myself to the name Mayberry Magpie, I used to comment on several blogs as “The Why Girl.” 

Why?

It’s the only question that matters.  I suppose it explains why I ultimately failed to pursue a career in journalism, even though I trained for it.  Journalists are taught to ask Who?  What?  Where?  When?

They so rarely ask why.  And, to me, it’s the only question worth answering. 

Needless to say, this proclivity has resulted in a disposition toward religion that can be described as complicated at best.  It’s also why I’m frustrating my thesis professor right now.  She urges me to be more “clinical” and calls my writing “too philosophical.”

Look what the survey says about me, the Why Girl:

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning.

And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong.

You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more.

You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises.

Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking.

(But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!)

You excel in: Higher education

You get along best with: The Comma

I know, I know.  This whole thing is likely straight out of Cosmopolitan, and there’s probably a companion quiz that analyzes which diet and hairstyle are best for me based on my punctuation mark classification.  Still, you have to admit this is as much fun as reading your horoscope (which I occasionally do) and buying a weekly lottery ticket and daydreaming about winning, my favorite weekly pastime. (If my horoscope ever tells me to buy a lottery ticket, watch out!)

I’d love to know about you. What punctuation mark are you?  Any commas out there?  We could be BFFs!  Take the quiz and let me know.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatpunctuationmarkareyouquiz/

Long postscript for the philosophically inclined:  Another question I’m currently fascinated with is why do we blog?  I’ve devoted quite a bit of noggin time to this one.  The activity is inherently voyeuristic (on the part of the readers) and narcissistic (on the part of the bloggers). And, granted, those are two compelling explanations for much of the world’s internet content (not the least of which is porn).  But these two characteristics of the blogging phenomenon are an insufficient explanation for such a complex and far-reaching construct.  I’ve self-analyzed enough to know I both read and blog regularly for far more reasons than simple prurience and self-indulgence would suggest.  So what else is at play, folks? I have a theory, of course, but I’d love to hear your opinions on this one.