Occasionally a feature assignment will take me in a direction I wouldn't find myself in otherwise. Take gardening for instance. I wrote about one Connecticut Historic Garden as a day trip feature and it turned into a series that ran over the course of the summer in 2010. Whatever the case may be, it's always been a learning experience.
I'm interested in ways people are alike and different. Using technology as a guideline, I'd like to focus on ways folks challenge and motivate themselves. What impact does social media have on feeling connected to others? Does technology add or detract from quality of life? Questions that seem varied are meant to explore what people think about because that's what I'd like to cover.
To be given a choice of what to write is a challenge I hope to fine tune over the duration of the semester.
I am very excited to read more of your blog. You write well, have a strong voice, and I am already interested in your topic. I am excited to hear your thoughts and conclusions.
ReplyDeleteI understand only too well the challenge in being given freedom on the writing topic. I love where are you going with your topic. It's interesting, the idea of social media connecting and also distancing ourselves from others. It connects well to the exploration on technology's effects on our quality of life. Nice post - looking forward to more entries!
ReplyDeleteHi Margin
ReplyDeleteYou are eager and I’ve been behind this week. I know something about you Margin because I’ve been teaching this course for a while now. I don’t know you, but I’ve met a few students who’ve watched the newspaper and journalism industries change under their feet. It was strange for each of them not to have an assignment or an editor.
Most of these students have been happy with this course.
You write beautifully. I don’t see a lot of clutter that needs to be edited. I like your Box O’ Joe and your writing about yourself.
I don’t see a clear subject and I think I should push you to write something specific, and write about something that’s connected to you, and write something that’s not either a lament for that newspaper past or an exploration of all this new technology.
If you use the new technology to write about… dogs… then you will explore the new technology regardless.
So what is your “dogs” then? What is your voice? I don’t expect you to find it in a semester. I don’t even like to think of it as your voice. I want you to practice an interactive voice for the semester, just like the intern that is tweeting in the voice of the Blue Whale in the Natural History Museum right now.
I looked through your resume. There has to be some subject in your career to which you hoped to return. Introduce us to something in your life. And don’t rush it. If the answer doesn’t come to you in the next two assignments, don’t worry about it.
Whatever topic you pick, because you will pick it, it will be going outside the margins. I’ll get to your resume after the next lecture.
Good work. Welcome to 506.
If writing about social media gets you writing Margin, then ignore me.
ReplyDeleteBut if you can think of a subject that is uniquely yours, it would be more of a challenge for you.
@bumpspark My tentative capstone subject was going to be on women and aging. I certainly don't feel I'm expert in that although it's a universal topic and I'm interested in how to do it well! Social media is playing a part too - who uses it, how does it improve quality of life, or not.. I'll be more focused later today after I take care of yard work! Thank you so much for comments - let me know your thoughts. Other idea is to write about photography....it's who I am! Would appreciate feedback.
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