Blogging has been a relief for me, as I am a rather painfully shy person, blogging has given a way of communication that was not available to me before this class. I have found myself fascinated with the voyeuristic side of blogging and peering into my peers’ thoughts, their hopes, dreams, and dislikes helps me to see people more realistically. My sometimes bourgeois thoughts don’t get off the ground when I read someone’s realistic opinion then there are other times when I would want to say, “don’t believe the hype”.
The other thing this blogging has given to me is respect for my own opinions, to stand behind them whether they are quirky, senseless, or profound. I am learning to trust what I think, though I am sure that I will continue to grow and change, for this moment I am learning to honor my thoughts and others’ thoughts.
Blogging has also taught me the scholarship of other students and what is required of one who wants to learn. Though no one was filled to the brim with negativism, I believe people taught me by honestly critiquing my work. They gave me deeper things to think on and different ways of looking at situations. I really think my classmates are brilliant and thoughtful people who are intellectually free and who reflect critically on social and spiritual issues.
Somehow in this environment I have even noticed my thoughts are becoming more logical and my understanding of simple literature concepts are becoming clearer. I consider this the textural part of my education now. This part is the something I can feel, the substance of my education. I have tasted the good and the bad and it is laying a wonderful foundation within me these teachings are combining to create a rich impression that will carry me through the balance of my education.
Language
Is where I have learned to hide my mountainous thoughts
Where I dress myself daily with vocabulary that I am not well acquainted with
And it is where I preen before the mirror of me
Wearing frocks of lingo that are enclosed with fire, I look noble neither nesting on guilt or shame
Someplace where thought is more than an acquaintance
But is a real companion
A lover of what he said, and what she said, and what she said too
Mary Joyce Franklin
“Your silence
Will not
Protect you”
Some of us—
We dumb autistic ones,
The aphasics,
Those who can only stutter
Or point,
Some who speak in tongues,
Or write in invisible ink—
Sit rigid, our eyelids burning
Mute
From birth
From fear
From habit
For love and money
For children
For fear for fear
While you probe
Our agonized silence,
A constant pain:
Dear Eshu’s Audre,
Please keep on
Teaching us
How
To speak,
To know
That now
“our labor is
More important than
Our silence.”
Gloria T. Hull for Audre Lorde
Blogging has given me a way to destroy the fear and silence in me. I will be forever grateful.
"The other thing this blogging has given to me is respect for my own opinions, to stand behind them whether they are quirky, senseless, or profound."
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how sobering it is knowing that someone is potentially reading what you wrote. Also, I've discovered how incredibly empowering it is to use such an open ended medium to discuss more formal and serious topics. I used to think that blogs were informal diary entries that only immediate friends and family members could appreciate. I've discovered that there is a subliminal sense of ownership and pride that I have associated with my blog as it really reflects my beliefs and in a lot of sense who I am as a person. For the most part, I wrote my entries without the nagging notion in the back of my mind that I had to do it for a grade. What I liked most about it, and you provide an excellent example in this post, is freedom to include whatever outside source, reference, or idea without having to adhere to strict rules, like if you had to write an essay, or take a test.