My Blogfolio

by captainfisticuffs

Just as God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, there comes a time when one should take a break from his or her work and reflect on what he or she has created. My first year of college is already wrapping up, and needless to say I’ve been working my butt off. As summer approaches and I get my well-needed rest from academia, I look back at all my work and, more specifically, this blog I’ve been writing this semester. The whole blog-writing experience has been one of great pleasure, and I’ve learned a lot about myself as a writer, especially what I enjoy in writing.

I’m sure this goes for a lot of people, but I enjoy writing SO much more when it’s about something I’m truly interested in. In my blog, I’ve had the opportunity to write about the internet, music, socratic discussion, and even my experiences with new media, from Reddit to Tumblr to word clouds. In addition, it’s so much easier to write when you’re not bogged down by formatting or having to write in an academic style. I can write however I want! Writing this blog has shown me that I’m a casual writer by heart. It’s just so much more enjoyable when I have creative freedom over my writing style.

Another thing I enjoy about blogging is having the ability to use hyperlinks. This was actually something I noticed myself about my writing in this blog as well as something that my Composition professor pointed out about my blog-writing. I really like using hyperlinks. I think hyperlinks are really useful in bringing in other sources of information beyond my own knowledge, from pictures, videos, Wikipedia pages, and potentially anything else on the internet. For example, if I’m discussing a topic that may be foreign to most people, I can easily lead them to a Wikipedia article or website that introduces the topic better than I ever could all with the click of a button. Hyperlinks are an easy way to supplement one’s writing.

I’ve written a lot in this blog, so I wrote up this “Blogfolio” to highlight some of my favorite blog posts. So without further ado . . . my Blogfolio:

My Favorite Comment on Another’s Blog: My Organized Mind’s “How Tennessee Helped Me Get Over My Fear of Making Mistakes” – Here, I found myself really examining myself and my behavior. My Organized Mind helped me uncover a bad habit of mine that I would really like to rid myself of. I probably never will get rid of it, but it never hurts to try.

Another’s Blog Post that Inspired Me: Once again, My Organized Mind’s “How Tennessee Helped Me Get Over My Fear of Making Mistakes”, for the same reasons as before.

My Most Intellectually Stretching and Analytical Post (#1 Strongest): “Does Art Need an Audience?” – This post was a response to a socratic class discussion about writing, art, and other deep, thought-provoking topics. During our discussion, someone asked whether a work of art, in order to be art, required an audience. And what was my answer to the question? Read and find out.

My Personal Favorite (#2 Strongest): “Music.” – In this post, I got to combine a personal narrative of my musical education with a discussion on why music is awesome. I also got to list some of my favorite musical works, or simply works that were on my mind at the time. Writing this blog post was a pleasure and a joy.

My Best Use of Images: “An Unintentional Fasting” – I put photos alongside all of my posts, but this picture, artistically portraying the exact problem I discovered after the events covered in the post, was the most relevant in relation to its accompanying post. The image is a side-by-side comparison of two pictures; in the first, people are bowing down to some form of the all-seeing eye, and in the second, people are on their computers and phones, and the all-seeing eye is replaced by a wifi symbol. This comparison shows how so many people become addicted to technology that it’s almost like worship. Being forced out of my own technological addiction (the circumstances of which are discussed in the post), I was able to see from the outside looking in just how inconsequential technology and the internet can be. Sure, technology is an amazing tool, but most of what I tend to use it for is shallow entertainment.

My Best Use of Hyperlinks: “Exploring the Blogosphere” – My first blog post also had the most effective use of hyperlinks. I used hyperlinks to easily refer readers to articles I was discussing, as well as to familiarize readers with the musical works of Joe Hisaishi. ( I suppose this Blogfolio also has some good use of hyperlinks too. . . .)

After all of this practice I’ve gained this semester with blog-writing, I feel that is could be a springboard to a long-term blog-writing venture and not just a short-term class requirement. I’ve really fallen in love with blog-writing. I have complete freedom over the subject matter, and I can write casually, which gives me more creativity over the style. As for what I’ll write about in the future, well . . . I suppose I could pick a central theme to guide my writing, or I could simply write about whatever the heck I want, like coffee brewing techniques or anime. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.