Well, here goes
Ok, this is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while. I have a webpage, and it’s out there in the world, but it’s for my students, and that’s not quite the same thing as putting your every thought out there for anybody to see. Not that I quite intend to do that.
My reason for starting this blog now is as an example for my American literature students. We’ve just finished reading Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. What an egomaniac! But the essential notion of the American autobiography is one I can’t get away from, and I think the blog represents the newest form of that. It’s more fragmented than traditional autobiographies—but so is much of contemporary writing published in more traditional venues as well. So since I’m going to make yall take a stab at writing American literature a la the weblog, I’ll keep you company in that enterprise.
But that’s just a reason for starting now. I’m really writing this blog for myself. I think every English teacher must have some part of a book squirreled away in a desk drawer—I certainly have mine. But it’s not something I’m likely to finish anytime soon, and in the meantime, I have been stumbling across many blogs recently. They’re fascinating reading often, and more than that, a record of people’s lives that I find compelling.
And finally, I’m probably writing this blog for my children. They’re really too young to read it now—although my daughter’s 9 and would read it if I showed it to her. But a lot of my writing is about them, so this can be one more thing I save for them so that one day they’ll know me better. I have often wished more people in my own family were writers; we tell stories always, but let’s just say my oral history skills could be improved. So since preserving family memory is important to me, and since I think words are just as good a way as photos, that means it’s time to write.
So this is an experiment. I’m going to write about whatever I’m interested in here—stories about my students, my children, myself. I’ve called this blog “On Comprehending Gravity,” which is the title of one of my poems. I worry a lot, and things often feel weighty to me. But the title doesn’t reference that—rather a sense of how the little things in life are so often more important than we think.
Probably this is not a stellar beginning—after all, this is not the most original thought you might ever hear. But I spent my day’s supply of creativity early this morning on a poem, so until my reserves kick in, here goes.
My reason for starting this blog now is as an example for my American literature students. We’ve just finished reading Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography. What an egomaniac! But the essential notion of the American autobiography is one I can’t get away from, and I think the blog represents the newest form of that. It’s more fragmented than traditional autobiographies—but so is much of contemporary writing published in more traditional venues as well. So since I’m going to make yall take a stab at writing American literature a la the weblog, I’ll keep you company in that enterprise.
But that’s just a reason for starting now. I’m really writing this blog for myself. I think every English teacher must have some part of a book squirreled away in a desk drawer—I certainly have mine. But it’s not something I’m likely to finish anytime soon, and in the meantime, I have been stumbling across many blogs recently. They’re fascinating reading often, and more than that, a record of people’s lives that I find compelling.
And finally, I’m probably writing this blog for my children. They’re really too young to read it now—although my daughter’s 9 and would read it if I showed it to her. But a lot of my writing is about them, so this can be one more thing I save for them so that one day they’ll know me better. I have often wished more people in my own family were writers; we tell stories always, but let’s just say my oral history skills could be improved. So since preserving family memory is important to me, and since I think words are just as good a way as photos, that means it’s time to write.
So this is an experiment. I’m going to write about whatever I’m interested in here—stories about my students, my children, myself. I’ve called this blog “On Comprehending Gravity,” which is the title of one of my poems. I worry a lot, and things often feel weighty to me. But the title doesn’t reference that—rather a sense of how the little things in life are so often more important than we think.
Probably this is not a stellar beginning—after all, this is not the most original thought you might ever hear. But I spent my day’s supply of creativity early this morning on a poem, so until my reserves kick in, here goes.
posted by Lisa at 9/09/2004 01:53:00 PM
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