BLOG, it kind of reminds of one of the sounds I once made when I had to throw up after eating bad spaghetti. In a way it kind of is, word vomit. Spitting up all kinds of words and phrases that you just keep inside you anymore. It seems like the more outlets we find to express ourselves, the more words we have to keep producing to sustain all that input that we put into these outlets. Like this BLOG. I did not open this account because I felt like it. It was actually a school assignment. I have to respond to my assignments in BLOG form. It is bad enough seeing my hardcopy quiz being handed back to me filled with red X’s. Now if I screw up on my BLOG, the whole world is going to know and some snobby, nosy, little know-it-all is going to be passing judgement on me in some stupid comment. It is annoying. I do not care about what people think, but I do believe that my business should my own. If that is one thing I fiercely guard, is my privacy. I do not know how people do it. Post up their whole lives and their deepest and darkest secrets up as if nothing. Just how much do they value themselves? That they need to hear the opinion of a stranger to make decisions about their lives. I do not understand this. Now, as for my teacher making me BLOG, I understand that having a larger reading audience will pressure me into improving my writing skills and punctuation. However, it does nothing as to what I do with the content I put in. I am writing about a whole bunch of nonsense that means nothing to me, its only purpose just being to fulfill some school assignment. I am burning my eyes out every time I look at this screen. If you must know, I love to write. I love to say what is on my mind. I write because I want to. I save my precious words for the moments when they will count the most. I am not going to waste them on you, on this assignment, or anyone else for that matter. For heaven sakes people, get a life!!
–The BLOGGING student.
October 19, 2009 at 2:37 pm |
I think it’s really interesting this idea that you mention of posting your darkest secrets up as if it were noting. The issue of privacy on a blog is very fascinating, in posting on a public blog you are broadcasting to the World Wide Web, and you have no idea who might stumble onto it, or criticize your work. But on the other hand maybe people need an out let for their secrets?
A few days ago I heard a radio interview with Frank Warren the creator of Post Secret. Not sure if you’ve heard of him but he created a project where people send him their secrets on a post card normally with a little creative art mixed in. He received so many he started collecting them and eventually he had enough to publish a few books. However, more recently he’s been posting them to a blog and archiving them on a website. This form of blogging seems to give a truly anonymous outlet to people wanting to share their inner most thoughts and secrets.
Links to his blog and website:
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/
http://postsecretarchive.com/
October 27, 2009 at 1:50 am |
I think its funny that you compare blogging with word vomit and how its a place to write down things that we need to express and just can’t keep in anymore. I experienced just that earlier this semester when I saw some Twits that Spencer Pratt from the Hills put on Twitter. I think he’s the biggest idiot in the world and the stuff he says just drives me CRAZY! I was so infuriated with his stupidity that I created a blog and wrote “Spencer Pratt is an idiot! Anybody who thinks changing their name to ‘King’ and thinks that Heidi Montag could be anywhere close to Michael Jackson has something seriously wrong with him.” And then I some how felt better. So I know exactly what you mean by blogging being like word vomit, because I still find it weird that at that moment I felt compelled to do that. And even now, the fact that I’m sharing this story with you on a blog even further shows a kind of “so what’s the point of sharing this” idea.
I think blogging can be a good educational tool, but it can be used for any and every topic and purpose and thats something we need to look out for. I’m not a very private person to begin with, so its interesting to me to see you aspect on blogging and privacy. You should keep your word for the moments when they count the most and I admire you for that!
November 23, 2009 at 8:52 pm |
Web-blog is a bad word, too. I am a writer by trade and training, and I love to write, too, I’ve had a lot of reservations going in to this blog, but as time has gone on, I’ve found that I like it.
I’ve liked learning to set up a blog, and being able to show other people how to do it. (Depending on where they are in the world of playing around on computers, they sometimes think you are a genius, which is ridiculous, but a nice and rare thing for someone who’s still trying to figure out Photoshop.)
My advice, hard-won, would be to use the blog as a chance to hone your writing and arguing skills – your ability to make a case, and make it tight and short and hard to dismiss. That’s a good thing – and having a small a;udience (really, how many people are ever going to see these blogs, except for us, your fellow soldiers in art?) is a good goad.