I had just begun my Master's Degree in English and Cultural Studies when I discovered the World of Blogging. I had several quirky (and nerdy) English friends who talked incessantly about their most hated political blogs--namely Michelle Malkin, to whom they are diametrically opposed--so I nodded along in agreement, convinced that a blog was a hip new critical theory term that I should but for some reason did not know. So, rather than speak up and admit my ignorance, I did what any self-respecting pseudo-academic would do: I went home and googled it.
Within hours, I was hooked. I immediately loved the very concept of blogging, which allows anyone who can think and write to contribute to an online community through a democratic medium. Any literate citizen across the western world can, in theory, visit their local public library and write their own blog. You don't need your own laptop, a home Cogeco account, or the upkeep of an expensive website. You need a free email account. And a bunch of ideas. That's it. That's why I began my first blog.
Blogging felt weird at first. I was initially appalled at my own arrogance and self-absorption, assuming that anyone would be interested in reading the musings of a student who hadn't traveled the world, hadn't published anything, and hadn't met anyone more famous than Dustin Diamond, who played Screech on Saved by the Bell. But those supposed shortcomings should never matter to a writer--not a biographer, a poet, a short fiction author, a musician, and certainly not a blogger. And if people didn't want to read my mundane ruminations, then they didn't have to. Surprisingly, though, they did. Sure, they were my friends and family, but eventually strangers would stumble upon it and contribute their own insights to my postings. That is what we are going to try to do together over the upcoming semester. We are going to write, of course, and we are going to share: share our writing and share our opinions and ideas on one another's ideas.
Although I erased my original blog when I first became a secondary school teacher, I have vowed to write alongside you, my students, for the duration of the semester . . . and long afterward.
Happy writing.
