1st blog post

As I have pondered on what I want to write about for my first blog post, I immediately thought about a quote from one of the readings this week. “Those of us who write have only a few topics.” Donald Murray states in All Writing Is Autobiography. My mind also went to what Professor Stockman emphasized in class on the first day; writing is torture. The hardest part for me is coming up with what I actually want to write about. Something outside of the few topics that my mind always goes to.

 As I sit on the 4th floor of the Snell library, I come up empty. My friends dismiss my struggles once they find out there is no prompt. Yet, for me, this is the hardest part. I sit here staring at the screen procrastinating, no, brainstorming of what the next 400 words of this blog post will look like. Waiting, for any moment my thoughts to discover a brilliant idea that will trigger an outpouring of words. It’s those ideas that all writers are in search of. 

We learned about a concept called Flow in my social psychology class. Google defines this state of mind as “The mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus.” It's those moments, when you lose all sense of time, feeling, and reality that makes all of the struggle and torture worth it. I assume it's what pulls writers to the keyboard time and time again. Murray mentions the “importance of allowing and even cultivating the obsessive interest of a student.” It’s that obsessive interest that I am searching for myself, for this blog and - if we’re gonna get deep - for life. 

In the other reading for this week Sponsors of Literacy, Deborah Brandt mentions a few case studies that detail the subjects education and use of what they have learned. It made think about what a case study done about me would sound like after I retire. Will it say doctor, public health administrator, psychologist, or even college dropout? For someone who isn’t sure what they want to do with their life, Brandt’s writing made me appreciative of the opportunities and privileges I have access to. It was comforting to read about each case studies journey and pursuit of education. It made me aware of how important each experience is and to take everything as a learning opportunity. The more you learn from what you go through the better equipped you will be when you reach your goals. 

I am so fortunate to have had access to quality education my whole life. I have met and learned from some amazing people. It is extremely important that everyone has access to reliable and knowledgeable sponsors. Brandt defines sponsors as, “agents, local, or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy.” The unfortunate thing is that many people don’t have access to quality sponsors that they can relate to. Instead they are bombarded and threatened with fake news, by richer, more powerful people. Knowledge is power and is often timed used as a tool of exploitation and manipulation. 

The information that one generation passes on to the next, from parent to child, from teacher to student, from news reporter to audience is tainted with biases. It is our duty as learners to challenge our sponsors, do our research, and be open minded. It is also our duty as sponsors, to emphasize the importance of the truth and to motivate and excite the people learning from us. It is in this way that we will find our obsessive interests, reach states of flow, discover what we are meant to do, and help others do the same.