Melissa Shaw
Prof. Quinlan
December 10, 2008
Blogging 101/ ENG 330-60
When I came into this class and was confronted with the word blog, I was lost. All I could think about was Rosie O’Donnell and how she would go on and on about her blog in her idiotic talk shows. Once Professor Quinlan mentioned that a good portion of our grade would come about from our blog, I thought to myself…you have no choice but to go into blog mode.
So that night, I sat in front of my computer looking aimlessly at blogs trying to get some insight. Suddenly, I had an epiphany; I had been participating (well kind of) in a blog all along. A beloved friend of mine, Aaron, had/has a blog that depicts his life story. I’ve frequented the site, but thought of it as nothing more than a journal/ coping mechanism (for his mom).
Anyway, at this point, I was completely gung-ho about blogging. Once I set up my account and posted my first post, it became addicting. Blog can be as addicting as myspace or facebook, especially when you go out of your way to make a blog that you don’t have a professor looking over. (Trust me, I made another blog where I didn’t have to watch my punctuation and/or grammar.)
In any event, once I started, I couldn’t stop. I found myself incorporating videos on the side of my blog, but I don’t really know if anyone looked at them. One thing I have to say about blogging is I would have appreciated any comments; even comments that had nothing to do with what I wrote about would have been fine.
I really enjoy the fact that a blog can be a point of communication. Ideally you could have a great writing class that just took place via the internet using a blog. (Of course with a few classes in person that discuss setting up a blog.)
On the other hand, the class itself was quiet interesting. The tactics used for the development of writing were very encouraging and in the end produced pieces that I know, I would never be comfortable writing on my own. I can remember our hitch hiker exercise and how it produced something that I know I would never write in my life.
Also, we wrote a short piece about being invited to a party by someone whom we weren’t fond of. That triggered a piece that I found to be unbelievable. In this instance, I wrote about my neighbor, whom I am convinced is a child molester. It was creepy. I wrote things down that I never thought I’d ever imagine. I guess I let my mind go wild. It was like I was a writer for Law & Order; thinking of those disgusting things.
One of the most useful things I gained from this class was workshopping. I wrote one story in particular, a haunting/possession story that I was in no way comfortable with. The feedback I received back was so well thought out and all taken into consideration when I did my edit and extension. In the development of this story my one tactic was to make the story come full circle, and incorporate all the aspects that my classmates stated I include.
All in all, the development of this class was one that was extremely thought out, especially by incorporating the technology of today. Professor Quinlan did an excellent job by incorporating blogging into the class, because believe it or not, we are all now published writer; published blog writers. If this isn’t a stepping stone into our future of writing, I don’t know what is.
The only downside I found was some people slacking on the blogging aspect of class. I found it hard at times to comment on peoples pages because either they hadn’t blogged in a month or the topics written about were just random.
In any event, the good outweighed the bad and I could never shame this class because it was always inspiring. I can remember the readings of my other classmate’s stories and how they wrote about obsessions with things that come in threes, aliens taking over, and the loss of an extremely expensive pair of shoes. All of the things my peers brought to the table will always remain with me.
Through it all, we shared many laughs, perhaps a few tears, and some moments that were just too serious for any emotion. It is truly amazing how writing affects people and the emotions it causes. Who would think that in one story you would worry about a man out running a militia, laugh at him losing his expensive shoes, and share the feeling of concern with his father?
I would like to end on a light note. At the end of the day, when we look back at our class…we can always look to our good ‘ol Irish (I really mean Scots) man, to read us in his manly brogue the life of the Dubliners, no matter how gitty and drunk those Irish get. As a final note, I could not be any happier with my last class as an undergraduate, it was truly a course worth taking. AMEN!
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