Blog Essay

I began this course thinking it was going to be long and strenuous. I thought about all the millions of pages I would have to read, and the countless hours I would lose learning about some guy that wrote bad poetry, or some awful story. I am very grateful that my teacher actually had taste, and chose some pretty interesting pieces.

When I first started posting blogs and commenting, it was usually as technical as I could be, but I've seen that I have actually missed some of the points in the story. I wasn't able to analyze the stories very well, unlike the poems. If I had background information about the author of any work, then obviously it would be a lot easier to make a connection. I made some comments on other peoples pages that weren't really constructive in the beginning, but as the quarter progressed my skills improved, even if a little.

I was able to masterfully get six comments in two blog posts, my final four not having any comments at all. I have no idea why, but, I guess I got skipped over on the luck of the button press chain.

When I wrote the blogs I really didn’t think about if anyone read them, I mean I am a Creative Writing major, I better get over it. My best post was probably the one on Zadie Smith, “Dead Parrot”. I feel I effectively contributed my input and said some things other people weren’t saying, but how much can you say without other people eventually saying it too? I may have not said some more, um, illustrious words, but that wasn’t too much of a hassle. My worst post was probably the one on Catastrophe by Beckett. I remember realizing it was due about ten minutes before I had to leave for class, so I wrote it in a rush. My in-between would probably by either my rough draft blog or my God’s Grandeur blog, both having equal interesting and uninteresting parts.

Writing about my readings have definitely made me realize what I am actually reading, what the core of the story or poem is really about. It made me think of the story differently, not from enjoyment but from one of understanding, a kind of “ohhhhh....right” moment. The blogs and fiction elements helped me break down the story that I am use to, but now have vocabulary for! Simile, metaphor, I can definitely tell you the difference now, even though sometimes they can overlap.

All in all I enjoyed writing the blogs, even though I wasn’t able to do as many as I would have liked, due to me having no money and waiting forever to buy the dang book. I am pretty satisfied with my efforts, though as always anyone can do a lot more than they always do, so no biggie. I enjoyed the class and hopefully will see some of the new folks I’ve met around town.