Blog essay

This essay is best split into two sections: one on the process of blogging, and the other on the interaction of writing and blogging and what I have learned from this project.

I had the idea of blogging with a specific project in mind when I started this project. The university smiling experiment got off to a fast start, but it didn’t take too long for people to stop contributing to the project and, just as quickly as it started, it ended. After what I might have considered a failed experiment (save I didn’t really care all that much about whether people smiled on campus or not) I choose to let the blog do what it wanted too, or rather, I didn’t try to have much of a purpose with it at all, considering I had no idea what I would want to write about on a regular basis. I found myself writing about personal thoughts a lot more than I thought I would when this project started. Some have made comments that blogging can be a little like therapy sometimes. While I didn’t find blogging very therapeutic in my own case, I could see why people might feel this way.

While writing my own blog, I found myself reading other’s blogs and I though it was interesting to see how much of my own blogging was reflective of other people’s. Whether it was responding to what they were blogging about, or if it was just an idea that was sparked by their words, my own blogging ideas sometimes were instigated by others. I don’t think this was so much of a problem, but while reading some of my own blogs I am wondering if my readers might be a bit confused as to where some of my ideas and thoughts originate. I had to remember sometimes that not everyone had read the same blogs I had, and were likely not aware of what I was referring to when I discussed “such and such’s” blog.

Keeping a regular schedule for blogging was an interesting aspect of this project. I keep a couple of blogs and sometimes I would forget which blog I had actually posted to and which one I had not. Later in the process I thought that if I could remember to keep a regular schedule that I would be able to remember which blog I had done and which one I had not. But, even while considering this, I found that as far as writing, and what I had to writing in the course of my school work, blogging probable had the lowest priority. I knew it was part of a semester long project, but it didn’t draw the significance or importance of other, paper based assignments, and when I did blog, I did not feel I was taking it as seriously as other assignments.

While I experimented with blogging I found myself second guessing a lot of what I was writing. It was hard to keep from writing anything to personal, while at the same time I was trying to convey an interesting point that I thought would be interesting to write about. I recall reading a blog entry (of an author not in 444) which described a family problem, which they did not identify because of the nature of the problem, but went on to say it was a serious problem which might involve legal authorities, and she continued to mention who the participants of this problem were and all sorts of other finer details, none of which I think should have been for public viewing. While nothing I blogged about for this class had any of the heavy connotations that this author’s writing had, I did evaluate what I was writing much more critically then I would had I not read her blog.

Moving from paper to screen as the primary source of writing has been an interesting experience indeed. Observing my own writing, and observing others writing, I have noticed that the amount of actual text seems to be significantly less than what would be written on paper. This is not only based on what I have seen from less experienced bloggers, but from those who would be considered professional writers. I have also noticed that while there is not much text on a given subject by an author, there are considerably more topics being discussed. More news organizations have taken to blogging for short quips about news and events around the world, but most of these blog entries are less than three-hundred words and they barely touch on the significance of the news they are “reporting.” I thought this was an interesting aspect of blogging, that even thought there is a significant amount more of information and news being discussed, there is little discussion or interpretation of the news that there once was. In ENG 517 there was a discussion of the move from print newspapers to web based news. One observation the class made was that there was a noticeable difference in the amount of text written in newspapers verses web sites. While doing this project, I started to wonder if the amount of news dissemination was further being limited by the use of blogs as news sources.

I also read a lot of blogs which were allegedly from overseas in hot spots such as Iraq, China, and Iran. These were interesting to read. Mainly because I couldn’t be sure if the blogs I was reading were actually authentic. While reading a couple of blogs which were supposed to be written by Iraqi college students out of Baghdad, I noticed that they were just too upbeat and pro American to be authentic, (the Americans never do anything wrong, things are so much better without Saddam, the insurgents will lose, etc.) Some questions were raised in my head when reading some of these blogs, as “insurgents” is an American term, and many Iraqi people use the term “terrorist” or even “foreigner” and name specific countries, to refer to the fighters. I guess after reading a healthy amount of freshman composition papers you start to get a feel for how college students write and even think. The blogs I read were terrible imitations (and gave very little credit to college students.)

While I see the value in blogging I am still filled with a certain amount of skepticism. Certain blogs I have read for entertainment, which I do not hold much as far as accountability, but when I read blogs which portray a certain stance or affiliation I have to wonder about who is writing it and what their motivations are. Blogging, and being able to publish at will, is somewhat a blessing and a curse. One reason publishers exist is to weed out the material which is not fit to be published (at least reputable publishers do this.) With blogging, there is little that can be done to validate the author of the blog. Should someone claim they are somebody they are not, it would be hard to contradict them. If, in their blog, they said they had just returned from a CIA mission in Cuba and want to give the finer details, but want to remain anonymous, how could we disprove or authenticate this information?

I intend to use blogging in my own future writing classes as I think it is a great way to introduce writers to an authentically public audience, but I intend to emphasize that blogging and writing for the World Wide Web can be a double edged sword. While reading a lot of these blogs I found I was becoming much more critical of what I was reading, and hence, even a bit cynical. I will have to be aware of this cynicism which teaching, but I still think blogging is a fascinating writing tool and I look forward to researching and experimenting more, but this project has brought more problematic questions rather than enlightening ones.

And so...

This will likely be my last blog for English 444. While I intend to keep the Multiple Composer blog up and running, I am probably going to delete the previous posts in order to make room for more up to date posts (plus, their kind of “forced” blogs if you know what I mean.) First, a little house keeping:

1. My heartfelt thanks for those who have lent kind words for my friend who is battling cancer at this time. Unfortunately, things are not going his way. After further testing, the bastard cancer has made its way to his spine, and the doctors at U of M have had to condense a six week treatment down to two. He’s not done fighting, and his doctors are great, so there’s still hope.

2. I’ve been accepted into the University of Nevada, Reno’s PhD program in composition and rhetoric. I owe Steve a large alcoholic beverage of his choice for writing what must have been an outstanding letter of recommendation, (I can’t think of why else they would let me in.) I’ll be teaching three classes while studying, and am now trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make the 2100 mile move. I guess the news is still sinking in a bit and I don’t really feel like I’m going just yet. I’m sure that will change quickly. Funny story: The director of the grad program called me to tell me the good news and started to describe the great area, and how they have Lake Tahoe and how wonderful it is. I had to respond by reminding him that I’m from Michigan and we’ve something like a lake each out here, (they get in the way more than anything else.) So he asked if we had mountains.

This class has been a trip. I’ve actually had a lot of fun. Steve’s classes usually are. Like I said, the Multiple Composer will stay active and I will update it as I go through my program in Nevada, so feel free to check back and link to my blog anytime. I’d be happy to link to anyone’s blog in this class. I’ve noticed it’s easier to blog about what is happening as opposed to e-mailing people about what’s going on.

So, I guess that’s it for ENG 444. On to bigger, and hopefully, better things.

This blog may turn out to be a little more intense than the few posts I have done, but sometimes you’ve just have to talk.

A good friend of mine (a “walk in front of the bus” type) was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer over the last couple of weekends and it turns out that it has spread to his throat too. This is one of the toughest cats I’ve ever known, and if this disease were based on attitude and looking at the bright side of everything, then I think (and hope) he is going to be fine. But he’s got a long road ahead of him based on what I have seen in UofM’s cancer ward.

Sometimes I think a wake up call is needed to realize how good things really are. My truck is dead (likely for good), my master’s project is bogged down, my wife and I are trying to hold our marriage together over eight-hundred miles apart, I don’t know if I’m going to have a job next year, and the bills are starting to pile up, but, you know what, I don’t have a disease that is slowly and mercilessly killing me. All the bullshit mentioned previously can be dealt with eventually fixed, but being sick isn’t so simple.

I saw things in the cancer ward that I don’t care to ever see again, but I think how selfish and full-of myself I feel after I think that. These people have to live with it, and I feel bad about seeing it? Shame is something I don’t feel often, but there it is. It’s events like this that remind me why I’m in graduate school, and how much I really need to be a better human being. At least the best I know how.

These things we choosed.

Steve Krause said something rather interesting in class the other day that triggered this post. Part of the reason I started keeping this blog is that it was part of a class, but another part is that I wanted a place to keep my thoughts and ideas, much like any other journal. Now, like many people, I sometimes forget to post, or put it off, or just plain don’t feel like writing when the time comes. So, Steve said something like, “Even though you may not be keeping up on your blogging once a week, you might be thinking about it.” And, oh, how true is this.

There are so many things I wanted to blog about in the past few weeks that I haven’t done for one reason or another. I wanted to blog about the new Taco Bell thingy that tasted… well… it’s crap, but I wanted to be more articulate and in depth than just a moderate and definitive “it’s crap.”

I wanted to blog about friends, and how important (and aggravating) they are in my life. I thought about how I divide the significance of my relationships with my friends. For example, if I like someone, and I consider them a friend, but still more of an acquaintance than anything else, then I would be really upset if they were hit by a bus. If they mean a bit more to me than just acquaintances, then I’d shout and yell and tell them there is a bus barreling down on them. Should they be a close friend, someone I care about deeply, I’d put my own life on the line for them and push them out of the way of the bus. But for my closest friends, I’d stand in the road with them, because life just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Finally, there were a lot of things that I wanted to blog about but just can’t. Not allowed that is. Stuff that you just can’t say about people that you want to. Some good, some bad, but all meaningful. The dangers blogging can pose sometimes.

Things in the past few days.

Crying babies, puking children, ornery elderly, and drunken British pilots. Oh, not to mention delayed flights, wrong gates, ten-dollar ham and cheese sandwiches, and bitchy flight attendants. And then there was the really big snoring guy sitting next to the ass watching some ultra violent flick on his laptop who happened to be the same guy pushing the “two carry on bags per passenger” rule to the limit.

I love flying, but I hate flyers. They stink, (sometimes literally.) United Airlines did the best they could, although I would have preferred a little more tack on the part of the airline attendants. I can’t complain about the price too much, well I guess I could, but what’s the point. The worst part is that this is only the flight over. There is yet the flight back. I guess it could be worse. I didn’t have to use the floatation device… yeah, really handy over land.

I found myself in a rather precarious position the other day when one of my students wrote a paper where the bulk of her information came from the popular Wikipedia website. I had thought I made it clear that I did not believe wikis qualify as credible sources of information. I think these sources are incredible experiments in collaborative information sharing, but for an academic paper they hold little quality as a source of good standing.

When I explained my reasons for not wanting her to use wikis as sources I was surprised to find that she was not aware of what wikis were, as well as being surprised at my own refusal of her sources. She went on to explain that she had been using wikis in all her other papers and she had not issues with any of her other teachers. I didn’t respond directly to what I thought her other teachers thought about wikis, but I did remind her that what she did in other classes was none of my business, but what she did in mine was.

I use this person as an example because of the massive amounts of information she gathered from Wikipedia. I am concerned that she has been using a lot of information from wikis in her other classes, and may continue to use these as credible sources until other instructors catch on about wikis and the impact they have on students academic papers.

Not a big fan of the wiki. I'm part of the antiwikiestablishmentism movemnet. We've got jackets.

The waiting

I hate waiting. It is amazing the amount of things you can’t find to do while waiting. I had no idea that waiting would become full time endeavor, but here I am, waiting. I’m waiting for an acceptance letter to graduate school. Hell, I’d even accept a rejection letter if it meant the waiting would stop for at least a while. I once was waiting with others, but they have received the good news, and I am very happy for them, but in the process I have lost yet another waiting buddy. I guess something I hate worse than waiting is waiting alone.

This is a time where I feel I have no control over what is going to happen. I’ve tried to run through the application process over and over again. I’ve revised and rewritten my statement of purpose and writing samples enough to have them memorized down to every period. I’m in a constant state of revision, wondering what I could have done better to up my chances of being accepted into a Ph.D. program, but all this does is make the waiting harder. So I wait.

I congratulate those who will be starting a new chapter in their academic career. Their waiting is over and their anticipation begins.