Reflections on Blogging

Like many of us, I feel that this class is truly different yet this difference is very unique and it allowed me a chance to truly express my writing in terms of my personality. To be honest, I did dread this class at the beginning. This is supposed to be one of my two last classes here at UC Davis and so I thought to myself, “Just suck it up and B.S all the way.” I felt this way because many of my writing classes in the past have all been the same boring experience. I never felt like I could learn anything new. I want to be able to walk away from a class and feel like I have grown wiser by picking up something useful.

But this has not been the case. Even when I go to Dutton Hall to get my papers revised, they all seem to only focus on the same thing and that is to correct little grammatical mistakes and make sure you fulfilled all the requirements to get a decent grade. This requirement of most typical papers limits my writing potential and also in a way unmotivated me to write good papers, at least I believe so. This type of writing style in a “container” does not suit well with me. I mean sure, it’s supposed to “help” a person develop an appropriate and a professional paper. But shouldn’t a writing class also enhance and embrace a student’s style at the same time? I would think that at a university level, writing classes should motivate students to write, not make them dread writing classes, like how some of us may feel.Blogging enables more control of my thoughts and allows me to feel like I am an adult who can write about anything intelligently rather than write as an obedient child. Blogging helps me to incorporate all that I’ve learned in the past, including all basic rules such as grammar and sentence structure, but also expresses my own personal style and the flexibility to think analytically.

Another part of this class that I really enjoyed was the daily discussions that take place. Although I’m not very talkative in class, I found many points rose in class to be very interesting and that also helped me to incorporate my critical thinking views and express them in my blogs. In addition, this class allows me to think in ways I have never before, at least to be able to put it in writing. I always thought my views on certain matters and thinking will place a blemish on my writing, but I found this to be an opposite effect in this class. I feel that my best writings come from subjects that really mattered to me.

Recently, I had a discussion with my boyfriend about this class and my writing style in particular. I remember him telling me a few years ago that he was very surprised from reading my emails because he thought they were very good writing. However, from reading my traditional English papers, he thought my writing totally sucked. From this, I realized that my writings are better through a subject I feel passionately about. It takes a lot for me to write a paper with a boring topic because all I really want to do is b.s without the guarantee of it being an “A” paper, yet with a topic I feel strongly about, I can go on and on. Therefore, I really think that blogging can bring out my best writing and helps me rediscover the passion for writing that I used to have. It was lost somewhere along the way during college. But thanks to this class, I have found that passion again and maybe I will take up the suggestion made by Christ on blogging about my dreams again.