"Why do we have to march the entire length of the field to warm up?"
"Why do we do breathing exercises?"
"Why do we have to count out loud?"
"Why do we have to line up our instruments on the sideline?"
Eventually, I started responding with, "Play the game." Trust that we have a reason for these little monotonies and just "play the game."
My approach to this blogging assignment was the same. It doesn't matter if I know what the ultimate purpose was to substitute blogging for an essay, but that I trust that the teacher knows what the benefit is. So, just as I expect of my own students, I told myself, "I don't know why we're doing this, but just play the game, and glean whatever kind of insight or lesson comes of it."
One thing I did NOT learn, but rather knew ahead of time, was that blogging is the antithesis of how I prefer to write. I can do professional writing very well, but attempting to mix in some "casual voice" feels very awkward... like a chihuahua walking on stilts, awkward. What I learned about myself as a writer was that, in order to have a conversational tone to my writing, I had to just write... don't think... just write. Be a man-who-usually-has-a-plan-but-not-this-time. Piggy-backing on that idea, blogging helped a lot in learning to write with an audience in mind. Thus far, all of my writing has been essay-type, critical analysis, research papers that were to going to be read by a teacher. Me attempting to write with personality is like a Wall-Street banker trying to give a lecture on business ethics... "We'll try, but it's not going to be pretty." I think that I've gotten better at finding the casual-professional middle ground, though there's still plenty of swing-and-a-miss moments.
Was it valuable or useful? It may prove to be in the future... I plan on doing a fair bit of traveling, so being able to keep an electronic diary, replete with pictures, for my family back home to view could be a useful tool. Not to mention, if I got kidnapped in Kosovo, the authorities could at least narrow down which city I was in based on my blog...
As an assignment, I think that it's very polar, in that the people who like it will REALLY like it, and the people who don't REALLY don't. For myself, blogging probably will not work out. However, of the several other student blogs that I followed, 3 really caught my attention...
- Shan... I can honestly picture Shan having a booming-startup technology company next year, and him authoring the company's blog. He just seems to know everything about everything, and is a legitimately funny guy.
- Sork... As a long-time reader of automotive magazines, I couldn't help but notice how perfect his writing style is for the auto-industry. I know that being a writer is not his career goal, but if he did happen to go the writer route, I think Sork would do very well.
- Cari... Not only is Cari a great writer, but the visual aesthetics of her blog are everything one would expect from a modern blog. I think her blog would lean more towards personal than professional, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she ended up garnering a large following of readers.
3 out of 24 isn't great odds, however, for those 3 people, blogging (or writing in general) could become a substantial skill in their lives. I recant my original statement... 3 of 24 is actually pretty great odds. Being able to positively influence 1 student each year is a success; 3 is triumph.
As for the other 21 students: life is never a cake-walk. There will always be new obstacles jumping in your path that make you ask, "Why?" WHO CARES "WHY?!" Just play the game, learn what you can, and apply it later on.
"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is important that you do it." - Mahatma Gandhi
I think you conducted your blog in an awesome manner. Your writing is always interesting, with a sense of humor, and that kind of grows on a reader. Even though it felt like PULLING TEETH to you, it didn't come off like that to me, as a reader. I think if I was going to write about my classmates the way you did about three of us, I would also include your blog as a top contender. I would say something like "KYLE- His blog is one that stood out to me. I hope he can win his battle against cigarettes and live long enough to update all the outdated technology so he can eventually play with the new secret military technology." Our professor has made it abundantly clear that if what ails us doesn't kill us, our food will. I had a great semester thanks in part to my co-bloggers and would like to give a big thank you shout out to them all. I just wish I would have had the foresight, like Kyle, to thank them so eloquently in my final blog piece. Now in the immortal words of a man who probably isn't immortal, or even real for that matter, "Live Long and Prosper".
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ReplyDeleteInteresting "wrapping up" post. Like Shan, I'm shocked that blogging was such a challenge for you; your struggles definitely did not translate in the posts you wrote. In fact, it seems you found a strong voice and have quite an ability to affect a reader; I hope in some capacity you consider continuing to write/blog in the future.
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