I used to hate the word "affordances"

Hi.

I just wrote a 12-page paper for Modernism. It wasn't that bad. But my brain--like all of yours--is also dying at a rapid pace. However, we will prevail.

As we always do.

I bring up Modernism because it allows me to view blogging for this class differently. (Although I do this hesitantly, because the last time I talked about Modernism only three people read the post.) We had to write responses in my Modernism class. If we wrote six two-page responses in 10 weeks, we received credit. It was just something that we had to do. Imagine how difficult it sometimes was to engage with material in our own field (sorry non-comp people for your struggles) and then imagine writing about stuff that will never have meaning in your research like The Waste Land. 

What I'm arguing is that we should [be forced to] engage with the material we read. Class discussion doesn't really cut it because this is what discussion is actually like:

Someone: blahblahblah what I think

Someone: *cuts them off* blahblah this is what I study and it's great

Someone: well I do this with my students and it's always been great

Someone: FOUCAULT

Someone: blahblah unrelated 12-minute ranting

Someone: name droppers be droppin'

Someone: I disagree *cries* 

Dr. Rouzie: let's talk about the article? thanks for coming. 

Obviously we all have fallen into any of those categories (including me, because I can do more than cry), and it does not always make for a productive class discussion. So I see the blog as a way for the students who cannot or choose not to speak in class to say something. And, unlike my Modernism responses that only the teacher [maybe] reads, it is a chance to hear response.

This is idyllic. At times I rolled my eyes before checking posts, dreading the engagement I'd have to muster in order to respond. BUT I also think I learned more from doing it. And to me, that's what suffering through school is about.

When I posted about Modernism meeting Theory and only Aaron responded, I thought I was an idiot. It was personal. And even though that post was not fascinating, I wanted you all to respond. Or to take the time to tell me I was an idiot so it wasn't simply paranoia. So when my last blog post received lots of attention (EGO BOOSTERRRRRRRRRRRR), it made the blogging experience a whole lot better.

I'm researching this need for approval as part of my final project. Henry Jenkins claims the participatory culture (which is all of us since we're practicing online socializing like blogging) needs to know contributions matter in the community. I argue (here, not in my final paper) that if we were able to truly engage and devote time to this blog, it wouldn't seem so terrible. We would feel like what we were saying mattered.

What you have said on this blog has mattered. Even if the responses were forced and your post didn't get read by all 15 people in the class, someone read your thoughts. What was the day earlier in the quarter when Dr. Rouzie mentioned that little bits of information stick with students and they are able to use them in new ways later on? That's how I view our contributions on this blog. Either we will remember or we can look back and remember. (Oh geez, I sound like a football coach giving an inspirational speech.)

I might not enjoy reading posts or commenting or writing my own, but it sure as hell was a lot better than writing something with a check mark and a plus sign that will never be thought about again.



P.S. I rarely saw classmates using video or images in their posts. Like this one, it is devoid of even links. (James, you were constant in video postage. Props to you.) It makes me wonder if the subject matter was different if we would use the affordances of a blog differently. I'm sure I could find a hilarious video of some punks acting out or reading The Waste Land. But Foucault? All I could find was a Ryan Gosling meme and an old debate on YouTube. What kinds of pictures are we supposed to include? Do you really want to see what I look like right now as I write this? Because I could include an emo-girl duck-lip picture. No? I rest my case.

P.S.S. I am SO GLAD none of us accidentally deleted each others' comments.