This is the first blog thing that I have ever done. I have to admit I am not one of those people who read blogs or ever seeks them out. I have nothing against blogs, they just don’t come up on my radar when I think of things that I want to read, one reason may be that I don’t like reading on-line, although I am getting more use to it now.
However, blogging and reading other peoples blogs has a very different voice than other texts. It feels more casual, people write more personal stories and write more about their connections to the text they are reading. I think I enjoy reading those aspects of connections to the text and seeing peoples experiences that have led them to connect in that way.
I think in my own blogging I have felt the freedom to write more casually as well because of this space. I feel more free to make connections, talk about the text in a different way than I might in a class or a more formal situation. I also like having the freedom of being able to respond to text in any way, not being restricted by having to answer certain questions. So in other words, one word that I have already used over and over, FREEDOM to react to think and to write on my own terms and to be able to see that process for other people as well.
Blogging also forces me to think about what I have read. I have to admit that if I do not make notes, write something about what I have read, I just forget about it. Blogging makes me thing about what I read and how I am going to connect to that piece and then represent it on “paper”. Writing is such an important thinking tool for me, that often when I start writing things come out that I was not originally thinking about, kind of like right now. Writing makes me stop to think about what I read critically and blogging helps with that process.
I think the part that was most challenging for me was responding to other’s blogs. While I enjoyed reading them, I didn’t always feel like I had ample time to respond to a posting. People wrote so much and so in-depth, that to respond adequately to those thoughts takes time and consideration.
November 19, 2009 at 7:34 pm |
Hi Beth,
Thank you for your comments. I appreciated your remarks about the freedom of blogging and also the challenge of response. I think that in a non-class setting, the response dimension is present but not always utilized, which keeps people from knowing how their writing is shaping the world. So, our purpose was different in this class, it was a way to bring us together as a community outside of our three hour class and to see bridges over time constructed, rebuilt, etc. I’m really happy with how it was.
I think that the hard thing about graduate school is the sheer volume of experiences and ideas that are often broken up by dates and deadlines. Perhaps you might continue the blog as a way to trace your thinking through coursework? If it works for you as a vehicle to process and then later recall, that could be very valuable.
All my best,
Melissa