It is amazing how many times in my life I find that the more I focus on something, the more I see it around me. For example, several years back my son decided that yellow was his favorite color and we began watching for yellow cars. At the time, I had never really noticed yellow cars before, now they were everywhere: yellow sports cars, cute little VW bugs, sporty pickups, work vans, all with varying shades of yellow from deep golden rod, to sunny mustard, to light lemon yellow. All noted, pointed at, and approved or dismissed by my son.
We see what we focus on.
Richard shared a comment on another post health update: Deadly Disease Targets Atheists that gives another great example of this.
A discussion grew up on the “deadly disease” post about the phrase “in toto” and since it had been used in a discussion so recently he was in the perfect position to notice the concept in action in his life.
His daughter (9) and friend (10) were making mac & cheese for lunch, a perfect learning opportunity for following directions and acquiring some basic cooking skills (like boiling water. Don’t laugh! Some people can’t even do that!)
Step 1:
STOVE TOP (BOIL):
1. Add pasta to 6 cups of rapidly boiling salted water (1 tsp salt). Cook, stirring occasionally, for 7-8 minutes until tender. Drain.
My first question is- who the heck came up with these instructions? Can you imagine trying to bake a cake following instructions on the box that say, “When cake is cooled on a wire rack from the 30-45 minutes of baking it received in a 425*F oven, depending on pan size, after of course having added 1 egg and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and water and stirring until the clumps are removed, then pouring into a pre-greased 9x13” cake pan, stirred frosting is the best choice as it won’t tear the cake.”
WHAT?????? Not only is the cart before the horse, but the reins and hitching leathers are dumped somewhere to the rear of the whole mess.
Back to the pasta...Needless to say after reading those directions "in toto", the children were properly perplexed as to the order in which to proceed. They managed to get the water into the pot, and the pot onto the stove, but where to go from there?
The instructions ask you to begin by adding pasta, but said pasta is being added to pre-salted rapidly boiling water and the mental gymnastics this convoluted instruction entailed was too much for two pre-teens just learning the ropes of cooking.
The original instructions required full knowledge of the process of cooking noodles, and the reader had to be able to hold that full context in his mind for the duration. In other words, the EXPERIENCED chef would know that the first step was getting water into pot then adding salt BEFORE worrying about how many noodles to add to it when it boils.
It is possible that the person writing the directions for the macaroni felt quite proud of not dumbing down the directions for something as basic as boiling macaroni, but instead provided a bit of mental gymnastics for those who can’t make it on the fly and who actually need to be reminded how much salt to add to the water.
Effective writing is writing that embraces the context for which it was written and takes into account the audience that it is intended for. Basic cooking directions must needs be straightforward and make no assumptions about the cook's understanding.
In the case of the macaroni, a much more clear set of directions would have begun…
***
1. Place 6 cups of water into a pot. Place pot on the stove burner or element. Turn stove burner to high and add 1 tsp. of salt to the water.
2. When the water boils (bubbles rapidly) add the macaroni noodles to the water, stir often until the noodles have swollen. Remove one noodle on spoon, blow until cool and taste for smooth but not too soft texture..
3. Turn stove burner to low...
Etc.
***
Each step in the proper order, presented separately, able to be understood piece by piece and "in toto".
If I write "in toto" one more time the image of the little dog in Wizard of Oz is going to start doing funny things to my brain.
If writing is misunderstood, who bears the responsibility? The writer or the reader?
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
health update: Deadly Disease Targets Atheists
I am the unfortunate bearer of some rather horrifying information.
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has issued a health advisory warning to all atheists in or visiting America. They are urged to avoid the southern states, and specifically places with warm water lakes, hot springs, and even dirty swimming pools
The reason for the warning is the unexpected peek in occurences this year. Between 1995 and 2004 there were 23 known cases, an average of a little more than 2 per year. This year, though there have been six cases reported already and more anticipated. The first symptom is a headache that will not go away. Typically misdiagnosed as meningitis, further symptoms include a stiff neck and fever. As the disease progresses hallucinations and behavior changes are typical.
The best way to prevent infection is to wear nose clips when swimming or playing in shallow water.
The disease, Logos Cephalis is caused by an amoeba that enters the body through the nasal passages and slowly eats its way into brain tissue. It is always fatal and no measures taken have slowed its progress in humans. From time of exposure, the disease runs its course in two weeks, leaving families bereft of their loved ones.
The cause is an ameoba, Naegleria fowleri, which lives in fresh water lakes and enters the body through the nasal passages and feeds on brain tissue.
Christians, especially fundamentalist and evangelical types are particularly resistant to this amoeba as they do not have sufficient grey matter to sustain the amoebas. Fanatical Muslims and other extreme religious people also show shocking resistance to this microscopic brain sucker.
The CDC is calling for all fundies to volunteer to help with warm water testing and various cleanup efforts as their unique brain make-up renders them almost perfectly invulnerable to this new threat. Scientists and rational atheists are urged to steer clear of any water teeming with believers as the amoeba become frenzied by the lack of functioning brain tissue.
For a full report, please see this AP article for full details.
Again- this ia health advisory from the U.S., to all atheists and rational people (but i repeat myself), swim with noseplugs!
_________________
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has issued a health advisory warning to all atheists in or visiting America. They are urged to avoid the southern states, and specifically places with warm water lakes, hot springs, and even dirty swimming pools
The reason for the warning is the unexpected peek in occurences this year. Between 1995 and 2004 there were 23 known cases, an average of a little more than 2 per year. This year, though there have been six cases reported already and more anticipated. The first symptom is a headache that will not go away. Typically misdiagnosed as meningitis, further symptoms include a stiff neck and fever. As the disease progresses hallucinations and behavior changes are typical.
The best way to prevent infection is to wear nose clips when swimming or playing in shallow water.
The disease, Logos Cephalis is caused by an amoeba that enters the body through the nasal passages and slowly eats its way into brain tissue. It is always fatal and no measures taken have slowed its progress in humans. From time of exposure, the disease runs its course in two weeks, leaving families bereft of their loved ones.
The cause is an ameoba, Naegleria fowleri, which lives in fresh water lakes and enters the body through the nasal passages and feeds on brain tissue.
Christians, especially fundamentalist and evangelical types are particularly resistant to this amoeba as they do not have sufficient grey matter to sustain the amoebas. Fanatical Muslims and other extreme religious people also show shocking resistance to this microscopic brain sucker.
The CDC is calling for all fundies to volunteer to help with warm water testing and various cleanup efforts as their unique brain make-up renders them almost perfectly invulnerable to this new threat. Scientists and rational atheists are urged to steer clear of any water teeming with believers as the amoeba become frenzied by the lack of functioning brain tissue.
For a full report, please see this AP article for full details.
Again- this ia health advisory from the U.S., to all atheists and rational people (but i repeat myself), swim with noseplugs!
_________________
Sunday, August 12, 2007
voices in the dark
Often on my blog I have begun with or included the phrase "and this got me thinking". I am always delighted when something unexpected comes along and I find myself exploring an issue from a new angle or thinking about a new issue altogether.
Recently the idea of assumptions came up. Twice, recently, I have made incorrect assumptions about people I've met online: the first was that an individual was male (I tend to relate with and converse more easily with men), and the second was that another individual was my age (what in the world is a respectable older person doing reading my blog????) ;-)
This got me thinking (see there I go again) about who my target audience is.
I worked in radio sales selling radio ads for awhile and had been exposed to massive amounts of sales literature prior to that. I knew all about target audience and key age ranges for sales and marketing (the 18-24 age range is huge). But I've never before thought about that in conjunction with my blog- who my target audience is, how that effects what I write, and how the imagined audience effects my assumptions about who comments on my blog.
When I sit down in front of my laptop, and open up the New Post window...who am I writing for? Who am I talking to? Have I ever consciously thought about who my imagined audience of my blog is?
No, I guess I haven't consciously thought of that answer. Then the question becomes, who am I subconsciously writing to?
Am I writing to the person who has read my blog the longest (BigTex), to friends I have made along the way (Ginny, Poodles, Gramomster), to hot studly Aussies who like what I write (you know who you are), to people who share my philosophical ideas (Richard, JohnGalt666), to the people who disagree with me but continue to read in spite of our differences :-) (Janice, reg golb). I know there are other people who poke in from time to time (King Aardvark, Tommy) and others that stopped in once or twice and that I have no idea if they have ever come back (XO, Reed, Jacob, Stinkbait Boucher and more). I also know there is at least one lurker who has never commented (*waves hello*).
My blog would not be the same without any of these people.
If you didn't show up and read it and comment on my blog, then it is a soliloquy heard by no one. A tree in the forest that falls alone, whether or not it made a sound, would be irrelevant because no one was there to note its passing.
I write because there are thoughts in my mind that I want to formalize. Thoughts that burn within me crying out for a voice lest they fade into nothingness and vanish. If my thoughts fade away, what am I left with? Thoughts unshared are wisps of fog that vanish with the dawn.
Through writing I can reveal more about myself then is possible in a spoken conversation, which, if left to rattle on this long uninterrupted, would be hideously boring for the listener.
But a reader can skip ahead to the punch line, or jump back and re-read for clarity. And the commenter can add their own thoughts on the subject, call the person on errors, ask questions, provide answers, etc...
I think...that when I write my blog... that I write to capture snapshots of myself and share them with others.
*click*
Enjoy!
And thanks for reading :-D
Recently the idea of assumptions came up. Twice, recently, I have made incorrect assumptions about people I've met online: the first was that an individual was male (I tend to relate with and converse more easily with men), and the second was that another individual was my age (what in the world is a respectable older person doing reading my blog????) ;-)
This got me thinking (see there I go again) about who my target audience is.
I worked in radio sales selling radio ads for awhile and had been exposed to massive amounts of sales literature prior to that. I knew all about target audience and key age ranges for sales and marketing (the 18-24 age range is huge). But I've never before thought about that in conjunction with my blog- who my target audience is, how that effects what I write, and how the imagined audience effects my assumptions about who comments on my blog.
When I sit down in front of my laptop, and open up the New Post window...who am I writing for? Who am I talking to? Have I ever consciously thought about who my imagined audience of my blog is?
No, I guess I haven't consciously thought of that answer. Then the question becomes, who am I subconsciously writing to?
Am I writing to the person who has read my blog the longest (BigTex), to friends I have made along the way (Ginny, Poodles, Gramomster), to hot studly Aussies who like what I write (you know who you are), to people who share my philosophical ideas (Richard, JohnGalt666), to the people who disagree with me but continue to read in spite of our differences :-) (Janice, reg golb). I know there are other people who poke in from time to time (King Aardvark, Tommy) and others that stopped in once or twice and that I have no idea if they have ever come back (XO, Reed, Jacob, Stinkbait Boucher and more). I also know there is at least one lurker who has never commented (*waves hello*).
My blog would not be the same without any of these people.
If you didn't show up and read it and comment on my blog, then it is a soliloquy heard by no one. A tree in the forest that falls alone, whether or not it made a sound, would be irrelevant because no one was there to note its passing.
I write because there are thoughts in my mind that I want to formalize. Thoughts that burn within me crying out for a voice lest they fade into nothingness and vanish. If my thoughts fade away, what am I left with? Thoughts unshared are wisps of fog that vanish with the dawn.
Through writing I can reveal more about myself then is possible in a spoken conversation, which, if left to rattle on this long uninterrupted, would be hideously boring for the listener.
But a reader can skip ahead to the punch line, or jump back and re-read for clarity. And the commenter can add their own thoughts on the subject, call the person on errors, ask questions, provide answers, etc...
I think...that when I write my blog... that I write to capture snapshots of myself and share them with others.
*click*
Enjoy!
And thanks for reading :-D
Friday, July 27, 2007
Forgotten Friends
Awhile back, I opened my blogging e-mail account and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an e-mail from a commentor on my blog, one Sean the Blogonaut, whose blog I shamelessly admit to having read in its entirety.
You see, I commented on his blog about enjoying this little gem he created...Desert... and he sent me the remembered bits of a 5 line poem he had created in honor of a war memorial that had been spray painted by some hodlums. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know how I love when things get me thinking.
Well the poignancy behind those 5 lines was....startling. I could imagine the torment felt by those whose loved ones were remembered there. So I tossed back an alternative form of the original 5 lines and expanded it. What followed was an incredibly wonderful experience of sharing, revising, and self-discovery as we worked together to create something new.
WOW am I glad I put up that e-mail address on my profile. What began was a very productive friendship. For he has awoken the poet/writer within me.
I've never done anything like that before. It was a remarkable experience. If you would like to read his thoughts on the experience he has blogged about it on his blog.
So here for your poetic pleasure is the first item from
Fiery Blogonaut Productions
Forgotten Friends
Urban scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they hear the cries of fear-
Sacrificed to pay the price?
Free to laugh,
Free to hate,
Even free to desecrate.
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they see the empty shells-
Authored hell for those who fell?
Gone their friends,
Gone their love,
Gone their faith in god above.
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they smell cold death's descent-
Left to rot and then forgot?
Laugh they might,
Who showed them ought?
The price of war is those who fought..
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they taste the bitter bile-
Crawled the fly on those who lie?
Dumped into an endless hole,
Forgotten, fallen friend
They did not forsee this end.
Blind they are to those that died.
Deaf they are to those that cried.
And when we look to place the blame
We turn our face to hide our shame.
We plant the seed,
We tend the vine,
The blame we share
is yours and mine.
Urban scrawls on sacred walls
You see, I commented on his blog about enjoying this little gem he created...Desert... and he sent me the remembered bits of a 5 line poem he had created in honor of a war memorial that had been spray painted by some hodlums. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know how I love when things get me thinking.
Well the poignancy behind those 5 lines was....startling. I could imagine the torment felt by those whose loved ones were remembered there. So I tossed back an alternative form of the original 5 lines and expanded it. What followed was an incredibly wonderful experience of sharing, revising, and self-discovery as we worked together to create something new.
WOW am I glad I put up that e-mail address on my profile. What began was a very productive friendship. For he has awoken the poet/writer within me.
I've never done anything like that before. It was a remarkable experience. If you would like to read his thoughts on the experience he has blogged about it on his blog.
So here for your poetic pleasure is the first item from
Fiery Blogonaut Productions
Forgotten Friends
Urban scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they hear the cries of fear-
Sacrificed to pay the price?
Free to laugh,
Free to hate,
Even free to desecrate.
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they see the empty shells-
Authored hell for those who fell?
Gone their friends,
Gone their love,
Gone their faith in god above.
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they smell cold death's descent-
Left to rot and then forgot?
Laugh they might,
Who showed them ought?
The price of war is those who fought..
Urban Scrawls on sacred walls.
Do they taste the bitter bile-
Crawled the fly on those who lie?
Dumped into an endless hole,
Forgotten, fallen friend
They did not forsee this end.
Blind they are to those that died.
Deaf they are to those that cried.
And when we look to place the blame
We turn our face to hide our shame.
We plant the seed,
We tend the vine,
The blame we share
is yours and mine.
Urban scrawls on sacred walls
Sunday, July 22, 2007
truth in text
Final thoughts on writing from What Do I Do On Monday? by John Holt
Good writing, writing that is a true extension and expression of ourselves, helps us to know ourselves, to make ourselves known to others, and to know them. It gives us a way of getting hold of our thoughts and feelings, so that we may think about them, learn from them, build on them. It can help us break out of the closed-in quality of our own experience, and share that experience with others. And it is still, and will be for a long time to come, one of the most powerful ways to reach other men, and so to make and change the reality we live in.
What I find ironic is the people who claim that they can learn absolutely nothing about a person from their writing. Who claim that the personal interpretation given to that writing by the reader makes the work a lie. When you read a person's blog, you get to know them, at least the part they are willing to share through their writing. You can learn their opinions on everything from mundane everyday topics to controversial political issues. You can read about the choices they've made in life and the consequences of them.
Sometimes you can even read between the lines and catch glimpses of the real them that they may not even be aware of having exposed. It's like a treasure hunt and the blog is the map, the person behind the blog, the treasure.
Good writing, writing that is a true extension and expression of ourselves, helps us to know ourselves, to make ourselves known to others, and to know them. It gives us a way of getting hold of our thoughts and feelings, so that we may think about them, learn from them, build on them. It can help us break out of the closed-in quality of our own experience, and share that experience with others. And it is still, and will be for a long time to come, one of the most powerful ways to reach other men, and so to make and change the reality we live in.
What I find ironic is the people who claim that they can learn absolutely nothing about a person from their writing. Who claim that the personal interpretation given to that writing by the reader makes the work a lie. When you read a person's blog, you get to know them, at least the part they are willing to share through their writing. You can learn their opinions on everything from mundane everyday topics to controversial political issues. You can read about the choices they've made in life and the consequences of them.
Sometimes you can even read between the lines and catch glimpses of the real them that they may not even be aware of having exposed. It's like a treasure hunt and the blog is the map, the person behind the blog, the treasure.
Monday, July 16, 2007
importance of quality conversation for writing
Fourth from What Do I Do Monday?" by John Hurt
A writer, therefore, needs a strong sense, awareness, not just of himself, but also of his listeners, readers. It follows from this that no one can write well who has not learned, and many times, what it is like to talk long and seriously to a trusted friend (or friends) about things deeply interesting to both of them. Such friends need not be of the same age; one such friend, when I was a boy, was an uncle.
What is vital is mutual trust, respect, and concern. To get or encourage good writing, we must start here. We must make schools and classrooms where there is plenty of time, and spaces large and small, and above all encouragement, for the civilized art of conversation, some public, in groups, much of it private. Edgar Freidenberg has often pointed out how in all but a few schools there are neither times nor places where students can legititimately be by themselves. This would be a bad mistake, if only for its effect on students' writing--and this is among the least of its bad effects.
How often do we shush our children? And not just the toddlers. How often does our frustration with our older children's interruptions to our own conversations lead us to snap at them or otherwise discourage their participation?
Maybe it is only me that stands guilty of this. How often have I excluded there participation in stimulating conversation? How often do I look askance at questions for more information?. How often have I considered it an invasion of privacy for them to enter into a conversation not originally including them?
And by doing so, what have I denied them?
The chance to think through their own ideas. The chance to explore them in an environment of mutual trust, respect, and concern.
A writer, therefore, needs a strong sense, awareness, not just of himself, but also of his listeners, readers. It follows from this that no one can write well who has not learned, and many times, what it is like to talk long and seriously to a trusted friend (or friends) about things deeply interesting to both of them. Such friends need not be of the same age; one such friend, when I was a boy, was an uncle.
What is vital is mutual trust, respect, and concern. To get or encourage good writing, we must start here. We must make schools and classrooms where there is plenty of time, and spaces large and small, and above all encouragement, for the civilized art of conversation, some public, in groups, much of it private. Edgar Freidenberg has often pointed out how in all but a few schools there are neither times nor places where students can legititimately be by themselves. This would be a bad mistake, if only for its effect on students' writing--and this is among the least of its bad effects.
How often do we shush our children? And not just the toddlers. How often does our frustration with our older children's interruptions to our own conversations lead us to snap at them or otherwise discourage their participation?
Maybe it is only me that stands guilty of this. How often have I excluded there participation in stimulating conversation? How often do I look askance at questions for more information?. How often have I considered it an invasion of privacy for them to enter into a conversation not originally including them?
And by doing so, what have I denied them?
The chance to think through their own ideas. The chance to explore them in an environment of mutual trust, respect, and concern.
writing as a conversation
A third excerpt from What Do I Do Monday? by John Holt
We must pay attention, not just to what we are saying, but to the one to whom we are saying it. Is he getting from our words the meaning we wanted to convey? If not, we have to find other words, find out as much as we can about the connections between his words and his meanings, so that we may better know what words to use to get our meanings over to him.
In short, there can be no real talking without listening. The bad writers of whom I have spoken, the experts, intellectuals, academics, may be epressing themselves as honestly as they can, but they write badly because they are only expressing themselves. They do not care whether we, who hear them, grasp their meanings. Many of them think, and sometimes say, "If you do not understand me, it is because you are too ignorant or stupid; I will not struggle to understand the source of your misunderstanding, or to speak in words meaningful to you." Of course there are notable exceptions, men like Bertrand Russell, true philosophers, who because they work hard at it can put difficult ideas into words that a great many people can understand.
The two people I talk to the most are probably my mate and my Mom. The conversations we have range from light and entertaining to really deep philosophical discussions, political, personal, etc... Having conversations that cover more than standard water cooler topics like "who is banging who" and "who is getting the next promotion" has been vital to preventing my own mental stagnation. Because, let me tell you, being a stay-at-home homeschooling Mommy is a guaranteed recipe for tapioca brain.
We must pay attention, not just to what we are saying, but to the one to whom we are saying it. Is he getting from our words the meaning we wanted to convey? If not, we have to find other words, find out as much as we can about the connections between his words and his meanings, so that we may better know what words to use to get our meanings over to him.
In short, there can be no real talking without listening. The bad writers of whom I have spoken, the experts, intellectuals, academics, may be epressing themselves as honestly as they can, but they write badly because they are only expressing themselves. They do not care whether we, who hear them, grasp their meanings. Many of them think, and sometimes say, "If you do not understand me, it is because you are too ignorant or stupid; I will not struggle to understand the source of your misunderstanding, or to speak in words meaningful to you." Of course there are notable exceptions, men like Bertrand Russell, true philosophers, who because they work hard at it can put difficult ideas into words that a great many people can understand.
The two people I talk to the most are probably my mate and my Mom. The conversations we have range from light and entertaining to really deep philosophical discussions, political, personal, etc... Having conversations that cover more than standard water cooler topics like "who is banging who" and "who is getting the next promotion" has been vital to preventing my own mental stagnation. Because, let me tell you, being a stay-at-home homeschooling Mommy is a guaranteed recipe for tapioca brain.
Monday, July 9, 2007
writing for not just at your audience
Another excerpt from What Do I Do Monday? by John Holt.
Self-expression is only part of good writing and talking. What we want is communication and change. We must therefore be sensitive to the effect that our words are having on our hearer, we must be aware of and be able to hear and understand what he shows and tells us, in his words, or simply by his gestures and expressions, about the feelings and meanings he is getting from what we say.
I once heard a prominent American educator talk to a large group of teachers, to whom I was to talk next. Waiting for my turn, I sat in the audience, and looked around me, to get a sense of the people I would be talking to. While the expert droned out his mimeographed speech, teachers all around me slept, talked with their neighbors, read, drew pictures. They and the speaker might as well have been in different rooms. To talk to people in this way is not only arrogant but stupid.
How often do the arrogant comment on blogs, typing to see themselves type? Refusing to explain what they are writing? Refusing to descend from their ivory towers to answer a direct question? Oh sure, they will critique the word choice you may use in questioning them. Or disect an example you have provided as inept or inappropriate. Yet somehow, at the end of it all, you realize that your questions remain unanswered and it is as leaves blowing on the wind. Nothing changes because of their passing.
If your writing is not understood or worse misunderstood what have you communicated at the end of the day but confusion?
The beauty of a blog is the dialogue that can be created between the blogger and the readers. The chance to turn a "monologue" into a discussion between friends where each learns something of the other. Whether the learning is the shock of an alternative point of view, the stretching of ourselves to explain something in an alternative fashion for better comprehension, or the delight in finding like minded individuals and exploring subtle nuances within an idea.
Self-expression is only part of good writing and talking. What we want is communication and change. We must therefore be sensitive to the effect that our words are having on our hearer, we must be aware of and be able to hear and understand what he shows and tells us, in his words, or simply by his gestures and expressions, about the feelings and meanings he is getting from what we say.
I once heard a prominent American educator talk to a large group of teachers, to whom I was to talk next. Waiting for my turn, I sat in the audience, and looked around me, to get a sense of the people I would be talking to. While the expert droned out his mimeographed speech, teachers all around me slept, talked with their neighbors, read, drew pictures. They and the speaker might as well have been in different rooms. To talk to people in this way is not only arrogant but stupid.
How often do the arrogant comment on blogs, typing to see themselves type? Refusing to explain what they are writing? Refusing to descend from their ivory towers to answer a direct question? Oh sure, they will critique the word choice you may use in questioning them. Or disect an example you have provided as inept or inappropriate. Yet somehow, at the end of it all, you realize that your questions remain unanswered and it is as leaves blowing on the wind. Nothing changes because of their passing.
If your writing is not understood or worse misunderstood what have you communicated at the end of the day but confusion?
The beauty of a blog is the dialogue that can be created between the blogger and the readers. The chance to turn a "monologue" into a discussion between friends where each learns something of the other. Whether the learning is the shock of an alternative point of view, the stretching of ourselves to explain something in an alternative fashion for better comprehension, or the delight in finding like minded individuals and exploring subtle nuances within an idea.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
honesty in writing
An excerpt from What Do I Do Monday? by John Holt.
The honest use of words, then, in talk or writing, is an act first of self-awareness, and then of self-expression. First we get hold of what we have inside; then we put it in such a way that someone else may share some of that feeling, experience, understanding. Which comes first? Do we need self-awareness in order to write, or do we write in order to gain self-awareness? Neither comes first; they grow together. We need some self-awareness in order to speak, to talk or write well, but through speaking we can become much more self-aware. We speak that we may know ourselves, and the better we know ourselves, the better we can speak.
A blog is a double-edged sword. It can be used as a medium for the honest exchange of thoughts and ideas. The annonymity provided by Blogger allows people to explore those aspects of themselves they may not be comfortable sharing with those closest to them. A chance to present an idea and see what others think of it. A chance to say to the world "Look, I'm an atheist" and learn that not only does the world not come crashing down upon you and that no lightning bolt has your name on it, but that there are other people out there who will stand up and say, "Me too! I'm an atheist as well."
Blogging can open a world of opportunities: to meet people with different ideas, to find those with compatable ideas, to have discussions, to engage in debate*, to be supportive, to be a friend. It is a chance to explore one's growing self-awareness through the expression of thoughts and ideas. Looking back in my archives of all the posts I've written I'm amazed at how many different topics have been covered, with each one causing me to rethink, analyze, or in some cases generate my own position on that topic.
Blogging- an opportunity to discover who you are, explore who you are, and develop who you want to be.
*debate- [informal] to deliberate, consider, to discuss opposing points
as opposed to
debate- [formal] a contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a given proposition.
The honest use of words, then, in talk or writing, is an act first of self-awareness, and then of self-expression. First we get hold of what we have inside; then we put it in such a way that someone else may share some of that feeling, experience, understanding. Which comes first? Do we need self-awareness in order to write, or do we write in order to gain self-awareness? Neither comes first; they grow together. We need some self-awareness in order to speak, to talk or write well, but through speaking we can become much more self-aware. We speak that we may know ourselves, and the better we know ourselves, the better we can speak.
A blog is a double-edged sword. It can be used as a medium for the honest exchange of thoughts and ideas. The annonymity provided by Blogger allows people to explore those aspects of themselves they may not be comfortable sharing with those closest to them. A chance to present an idea and see what others think of it. A chance to say to the world "Look, I'm an atheist" and learn that not only does the world not come crashing down upon you and that no lightning bolt has your name on it, but that there are other people out there who will stand up and say, "Me too! I'm an atheist as well."
Blogging can open a world of opportunities: to meet people with different ideas, to find those with compatable ideas, to have discussions, to engage in debate*, to be supportive, to be a friend. It is a chance to explore one's growing self-awareness through the expression of thoughts and ideas. Looking back in my archives of all the posts I've written I'm amazed at how many different topics have been covered, with each one causing me to rethink, analyze, or in some cases generate my own position on that topic.
Blogging- an opportunity to discover who you are, explore who you are, and develop who you want to be.
*debate- [informal] to deliberate, consider, to discuss opposing points
as opposed to
debate- [formal] a contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a given proposition.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
assumptions
Do any of you remember the world right before the World Wide Web burst into prominence? People had modem capability and set up little local communities called BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems). You could dial a local number and hang-out with others doing whatever the topic of the BBS was.
I was a wide-eyed innocent when I joined the Final Frontier BBS almost 14 years ago. It was a fun little BBS where you could download shareware/freeware games (does anybody remember Joust?), probably porn (I was innocent and not looking remember?), and play some in house games.
Final Frontier had a Food Fight you could get involved in. You started with X number of pieces of food and lobbed them at whoever and if you were successful and got more points, you could "buy" more food. So I created a username for myself and started lobbing. What I didn't do was look around the bbs and get to know any of the participants first. I jumped into a private party and acted like a lunatic (to them). I just thought I was being silly. They all turned on me, made fun of my username, told me I was a loser, and pretty much humiliated the innocence right out of a newbie.
Had I been stronger as a person then, I could have turned and told them all to fuck off and not be so stuck up about who they were pasting with cream pies. As it was, I tucked my tail between my legs and left BBSing. I had been humiliated for 13 years in public school and I was god-damned determined not to ever willingly subject myself to that fuckall again.
It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I re-entered the web and joined yahoo groups. I was very careful about posting questions or responses, to the point that I would lurk for at least a month or more and usually read a lot in the archives before my first post.
I was pointed to my very first blog by one of my yahoo groups, having never been to one or even heard of them before. After much reading and much enjoyment and much following around of the links, I created a name for myself and I set up my own blog. I really didn't have a clear picture at the time of what I wanted to do with my blog. I wasn't even really sure what the possibilties were.
Blogging has been my first big adventure where I really put myself out there since that painful experience on Final Frontier. Really exposed myself to potential ridicule and scorn.
The one thing that I learned from Final Frontier, was that text can be very misleading. People read into it what they want to, not necessarily what the other person meant. Where I was typing silly, they were reading bitchy.
Just today, I misunderstood an e-mail from a dear friend. What this person said had been fairly clear, but I jumped to the wrong conclusion and assumed the worst.
Text is a very tricky medium. There are smilies to indicate humor.
:-) There are smilies to indicate anger >:-| Cripes there are whole web pages dedicated to decoding the various smilies. People will capitalize entire words for emphasis to try and prove their point. Remember how fardling annoying dani was always capitalizing the TRUTH that she was trying to get across?
Sometimes people will use italics or sometimes bold to show when they are emphasizing a word in a sentence.
But with all of these clues, it is still not always possible to know entirely what a person is thinking.
A single comment can be taken to mean many different things depending on who is reading it and what they are assuming another person means.
After the Final Frontier Fiasco, I decided to try and always give people the benefit of the doubt. And if I misunderstood what was said, I was very quick to set things straight and recover from whatever I thought the person had said and respond to what they had actually meant. I also try and work hard at making sure I am being clear with what I am trying to communicate.
For example if this comes across as sanctimonious and patronizing, then I have not been clear in what I wrote. For that I apologize.
What I am is monumentally unthrilled with negative assumptions.
I was a wide-eyed innocent when I joined the Final Frontier BBS almost 14 years ago. It was a fun little BBS where you could download shareware/freeware games (does anybody remember Joust?), probably porn (I was innocent and not looking remember?), and play some in house games.
Final Frontier had a Food Fight you could get involved in. You started with X number of pieces of food and lobbed them at whoever and if you were successful and got more points, you could "buy" more food. So I created a username for myself and started lobbing. What I didn't do was look around the bbs and get to know any of the participants first. I jumped into a private party and acted like a lunatic (to them). I just thought I was being silly. They all turned on me, made fun of my username, told me I was a loser, and pretty much humiliated the innocence right out of a newbie.
Had I been stronger as a person then, I could have turned and told them all to fuck off and not be so stuck up about who they were pasting with cream pies. As it was, I tucked my tail between my legs and left BBSing. I had been humiliated for 13 years in public school and I was god-damned determined not to ever willingly subject myself to that fuckall again.
It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I re-entered the web and joined yahoo groups. I was very careful about posting questions or responses, to the point that I would lurk for at least a month or more and usually read a lot in the archives before my first post.
I was pointed to my very first blog by one of my yahoo groups, having never been to one or even heard of them before. After much reading and much enjoyment and much following around of the links, I created a name for myself and I set up my own blog. I really didn't have a clear picture at the time of what I wanted to do with my blog. I wasn't even really sure what the possibilties were.
Blogging has been my first big adventure where I really put myself out there since that painful experience on Final Frontier. Really exposed myself to potential ridicule and scorn.
The one thing that I learned from Final Frontier, was that text can be very misleading. People read into it what they want to, not necessarily what the other person meant. Where I was typing silly, they were reading bitchy.
Just today, I misunderstood an e-mail from a dear friend. What this person said had been fairly clear, but I jumped to the wrong conclusion and assumed the worst.
Text is a very tricky medium. There are smilies to indicate humor.
:-) There are smilies to indicate anger >:-| Cripes there are whole web pages dedicated to decoding the various smilies. People will capitalize entire words for emphasis to try and prove their point. Remember how fardling annoying dani was always capitalizing the TRUTH that she was trying to get across?
Sometimes people will use italics or sometimes bold to show when they are emphasizing a word in a sentence.
But with all of these clues, it is still not always possible to know entirely what a person is thinking.
A single comment can be taken to mean many different things depending on who is reading it and what they are assuming another person means.
After the Final Frontier Fiasco, I decided to try and always give people the benefit of the doubt. And if I misunderstood what was said, I was very quick to set things straight and recover from whatever I thought the person had said and respond to what they had actually meant. I also try and work hard at making sure I am being clear with what I am trying to communicate.
For example if this comes across as sanctimonious and patronizing, then I have not been clear in what I wrote. For that I apologize.
What I am is monumentally unthrilled with negative assumptions.
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