Blogging about Blogging (Metablogging?)

Just bumped into Torill Morensen's definition of blogging and think it's pretty rad:


A true-born child of the computer medium, the weblog may have its roots in the research journal, the ship’s log, the private diary and the newspapers, all at the same time. But like a mongrel hunting the dark alleys of the digital city, the weblog is nothing if not adaptive and unique at the same time. No fancy thoroughbred this ... but a bastard child of all personal writing, breeding wildly as it meets others of its ilk online.

It's from A Handbook of New Literacies Research , just thought I'd share. I mean, I like to think of my ramblings on here as if I am a ship captain: Ahoy Maties, today the sea was rough. Outran a pirate ship in the wee hours of the morning out of sheer wit and determination. (to be continued...)

My Writing Process

Sometimes my most apt descriptions come out in AIM/gmail chat conversations. I was just debriefing on my writing process (for academic writing). It's like an emotional arc, which I can break down into stages below (not unlike the 5 stages of grief). I managed to fully distract myself from my impending writing deadline all weekend. That wasn't hard; almost every minute was scheduled and, for the moments that weren't, I went shopping. Cliche but true. As for Monday, I cleaned--my whole apartment. Every dish is clean, every bit of laundry done, the floor swept and vigorously mopped. I also hung some stuff on the walls, reorganized all of my paperwork, and managed to chat on AIM and download music from Lime Wire pretty much all day. I thought I'd start blogging as a part of pulling myself from stage three fully into stage four below.


The 5 stages of MY writing process:
1) Distract self socially.
(Shop if friends figure out that I'm procrastinating and lovingly refuse to hang out with me. The sales guy is friendly and doesn't know/doesn't care.)
(2) Clean. In a rage. Anything and everything that can be washed, scrubbed, sorted, filed, rearranged, etc. Also, pluck eyebrows, clip fingernails and toenails, wax, whatever. Purification ritual?
(3) Rabid Procrastination & Self-Loathing. In short: Throw internal temper tantrums, which can be visually conjured up. Usually results in "I want my mommy feelings."
(4) Overcome Maudlin, Begin Writing. Inner adult quells temper tantrums of whiney, annoying inner child. Inner child acquiesces because she too is tired of hearing herself bemoan the unavoidable.
(5) Runner's High. Once I actually start, I'm good. Unorganized in my thinking. Disastrously rambling, but still fingers moving, progress being made.

art as a social force, cont.

another jem of a pic from that art show. and kh picked out a song to post on here to turn it into a tear jerker. sniff...

Bad Day.mp3 - Daniel Powter

Art as a Social Force

i like the kind of art shows where you can touch the art and the alarm doesn't sound. the kind where you get to talk to the artists about what inspired their work. the kind where families and friends show up to talk and laugh and break a little bread while gazing around at the art. the kind where mixed media is the rule rather than the exception. the kind where i leave feeling compelled to make art, to dig a little deeper, to seek out the answers to my questions. to find my truth, to work to understand our truths a little better.



that's how i left the uama art as a social force show feeling. like the world was a little more defined, perhaps like it was sharpened into focus for a moment. like i had a greater sense of my students' identities, intellectual curiosities, and selves.

i also left feeling like i wanted more, like i wanted to see a clearer description of our collectives selves--who we are together, who we are apart--what makes us tick, how our various versions of our interwoven "selves" are shaped.