I looked
over this blog today, starting from the bottom (poetry essay) and then working
my way up towards my final draft for our final essay project. It was an
interesting experience to say the least, mostly due to the fact that prior to
this assignment (blog creation) I didn’t know exactly what a blog was or more
accurately, what was the point. Writing in a journal has always been an assignment
I never completed or simply dismissed because the actual
action of writing down my thoughts and/or experiences has never interested me.
This isn’t to
say that I don’t like writing. Far from it as I am a creative writing major, it’s
been more of a problem of finding what to say that would intrigue or entertain
someone. I write because I enjoy the reaction and the praise from people who genuinely
enjoyed reading my story. And when I thought about it, what satisfaction could
one derive from reading about my thoughts on buttered toast when they could be
more entertained reading how I think a story about a Genie and a selfish man
would play out?
As such,
when I looked over my blog this morning to begin my refection, I began to
notice a story that intermingled and weaved between each post. My first post of
the semester was my poetry essay about A.E. Housman’s poem, “To an Athlete
Dying Young.” Although I find myself confused and irritated with poetry, I have
always remembered this poem because of what I originally assumed was a tragic ending
and ultimately morbid stance on death. However, thanks to the research I did, I
discovered a different take on Housman’s view of life and success and found
myself for once, enjoying the process of poetry dissection.
The second
blog post I posted was my two poetry writing assignments. As stated, I dislike
poetry but as a writing major, I looked forward to doing something creative. While
I do not think these poems will win any prizes anytime soon, I am ultimately
happy with what I created; additionally, these poems will always stand out to
me because of where I was when I wrote them. Though the concept and the ideas
had been established for a long time, the writing didn’t happen until I found
myself in Hawaii, watching the sun rise as I typed them out. Though these poems
have nothing to do with that setting, it is impossible to reflect on them
without remembering the adventure I had around them.
My final
blog posts were two different group projects and an essay. And although my blog
does not mention names or have any pictures of my group, simply reading them
brings them all back to light. From several scattered emails to sharing picture
to collaborating on direction and presentation, it is impossible to think of
these assignments without remembering the jokes, the conversations and the
friends that I made this semester.
Looking back over this blog is like seeing a slice of my history. Though the details are invisible to the casual observer, what I see is a record of my past that I would have otherwise forgotten. And seeing my writing cooperating with the pictures I inserted brings me to discover an intermingling of technologies that although common in my day-to-day life, seemed inclusive to as a medium I could use. As such, my blog reflection boils down to this; I wish I had down more with it because of I am proud of what I have created here. While I do not think I have discovered the universal appeal and purpose of a blog, I do feel that I have discovered the personal appeal for myself. Though the causal visitor may stumble across this page and only take a moderate interest, I myself will always remember it more for the stories that sprang up around every post.
*Except for the Hawaii photo, all other images are courtesy of random Google searches :)