writing
So much for posting often.
I know a lot of people with blogs. And some of them post really deep, thoughtful entries. They find meaning in everyday things and events, and some even write their own little short stories and post them. Every entry has a purpose, some message that they want to get across. It's not just a disconcerted mash-up of daily life events. It's a glimpse into their thoughts.
That, to me, is impressive. I wish I could write like them.
But a lot of other people I know don't always write about deep things. They write about daily life, things that are affecting them, problems that they're having, feelings that they have. And that is also good, because it accomplishes the main point of a blog: the journal aspect. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that people who write these types of entries wish to remember how they are feeling at that point in time so that later on in life (or later next week) they can reflect, and say, "Oh I can't believe I even felt that way," or "I feel just the same as I did last week," or whatever. I admire the courage that these people have to post how they feel on the internet for everyone to see (and comment on).
And then, there's me. I'm kind of stuck in between these two kinds of blogs. I think it would be really cool to write about things I see every day and reflect on the meaning of them, or about feelings that I have that I just want to elaborate on. And my daily routine is boring enough that even I don't want to write about it. But, I'm not a good enough writer to express what I see every day in a captivating way like some of my friends do. Nor do I have the courage to really admit how I'm feeling about certain things. And furthermore, I've seen the ramifications of what people have posted in the past, and they weren't pretty.
In my Honors Civ "Race and Advertising" class, I'm reading this book called Art as a Social System by Nicklas Luhmann. In it, he discusses a whole bunch of things about the origination of forms, the specifics of observation, and many other philosophical things. One quote stands out here:
"Most of the time, artists are in no position to provide a satisfactory account of their intentions. Even the artist can see what he wanted to do only upon realizing what he has done. [...] The artist must therefore observe his emerging work in anticipation of its observation by others."
The argument I'm having with myself and blog entries is a question of authenticity. If I post something, do I want it to be read as deep, thoughtful, and introspective? Or should I just write whatever the hell I want without thinking and risk getting in trouble for it? Does doing the latter make it authentic? Because everything I write I will have thought of before I wrote, so it's not really how I feel, but what I feel like writing.
I don't know what to think. But in the meantime I'll just be writing about things like my celebrity crush on Ashley Tisdale, the Philadelphia Eagles, how tough school is, and maybe one or two rants about things/people. You can bet, though, that I will be thinking about how my entries look to people as I write them, so everything that I write, I want people to see (and react). Have fun with that.
I know a lot of people with blogs. And some of them post really deep, thoughtful entries. They find meaning in everyday things and events, and some even write their own little short stories and post them. Every entry has a purpose, some message that they want to get across. It's not just a disconcerted mash-up of daily life events. It's a glimpse into their thoughts.
That, to me, is impressive. I wish I could write like them.
But a lot of other people I know don't always write about deep things. They write about daily life, things that are affecting them, problems that they're having, feelings that they have. And that is also good, because it accomplishes the main point of a blog: the journal aspect. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that people who write these types of entries wish to remember how they are feeling at that point in time so that later on in life (or later next week) they can reflect, and say, "Oh I can't believe I even felt that way," or "I feel just the same as I did last week," or whatever. I admire the courage that these people have to post how they feel on the internet for everyone to see (and comment on).
And then, there's me. I'm kind of stuck in between these two kinds of blogs. I think it would be really cool to write about things I see every day and reflect on the meaning of them, or about feelings that I have that I just want to elaborate on. And my daily routine is boring enough that even I don't want to write about it. But, I'm not a good enough writer to express what I see every day in a captivating way like some of my friends do. Nor do I have the courage to really admit how I'm feeling about certain things. And furthermore, I've seen the ramifications of what people have posted in the past, and they weren't pretty.
In my Honors Civ "Race and Advertising" class, I'm reading this book called Art as a Social System by Nicklas Luhmann. In it, he discusses a whole bunch of things about the origination of forms, the specifics of observation, and many other philosophical things. One quote stands out here:
"Most of the time, artists are in no position to provide a satisfactory account of their intentions. Even the artist can see what he wanted to do only upon realizing what he has done. [...] The artist must therefore observe his emerging work in anticipation of its observation by others."
The argument I'm having with myself and blog entries is a question of authenticity. If I post something, do I want it to be read as deep, thoughtful, and introspective? Or should I just write whatever the hell I want without thinking and risk getting in trouble for it? Does doing the latter make it authentic? Because everything I write I will have thought of before I wrote, so it's not really how I feel, but what I feel like writing.
I don't know what to think. But in the meantime I'll just be writing about things like my celebrity crush on Ashley Tisdale, the Philadelphia Eagles, how tough school is, and maybe one or two rants about things/people. You can bet, though, that I will be thinking about how my entries look to people as I write them, so everything that I write, I want people to see (and react). Have fun with that.