Rambling blog

I agree that, in terms of our blog voices, we must be conscientious of several things: We have to balance the informality of expressing our opinions about the readings with the academic necessities of the class. On the same note, we should be able to honestly voice our opinions while keeping in mind the nature of the blog as a public forum. I think it is too easy for us to fall into the trap, which seems to be common of cyberspace in general, of thinking that our writing is contained within the sphere of class, disregarding the very real fact that anyone on the planet could read our musings. It’s for this reason that I find it interesting that people are drawing comparisons between the blog and diaries. There are some obvious differences, such as the fact that I would probably never write a journal entry about the publishing industry, but I think the similarities are more prominent. David’s remark that we are always on view is never truer than when we post a blog entry, but I would be lying if I said that I have ever written in a journal with the notion that it would exist in a vacuum. By this I mean that, in some sense, anything we write we have the intention of having someone else read. If not, what would be the point of writing it? It would seem extremely self-congratulatory to write something down, particularly something like a journal entry, if it is only for the sake of proving to yourself of having thought that. To put it more clearly, the thought is yours the moment you think it, so why write it down for any other purpose than to communicate it to someone else? In this sense, the blog accomplishes exactly what a diary or journal does, but on a more prolific and immediate scale. Coming to the point in an extremely roundabout way, I think we should treat this blog with as much formality as we would treat a journal: We are all English majors so I imagine that we all have at least a semi-perfectionist attitude towards language, so the same impulse that would compel me to erase a misspelling in a journal prohibits me from writing this blog as though it were a text message. Simultaneously, I think we should all feel comfortable enough with the each other, and also with the public nature of the internet (thanks to its anonymity), to express whatever thoughts we have about the class, readings, or anything else that catches our attention.
P.S. I couldn’t really think of anything coherent to write about this week, so I apologize if this post is rambling and pointless.