Musings on Starting a Blog

When I began looking through the writing I did during my masters program, I realized that I had a lot of unused material. End of semester projects, unused research, and a slew of two-page response papers (a product of being under Dr. Phil Nel’s tutelage). As I began reading through the material, I realized that the work I’d done during my studies should be used somewhere – I just wasn’t sure where to put it. Then came a brilliant idea from my middle school years – blogging. 

While I feel a bit narcissistic in beginning a blog about my work, I’m hoping that this will help me reuse and revitalize the material I have already created. This is especially important to me (continuing to work on abandoned projects) given that I am currently taking a gap year away from my studies, focusing instead on my teaching and publication. While it feels a bit silly publishing homework that was meant only to be seen by my professors on the vast expanse of the world wide web, it has already led to ideas discovered in my coursework that I couldn’t investigate further during the time I worked on these projects.

 

I know for a fact that I wish to stay in academia, and continue research, but am still very much finding my footing in the field. Yes, I have a niche (Nancy Drew will always be a key part of my scholarship) but I want to branch out and revisit (or discover) different aspects of my research that I may have forgotten. Also, given our current administration’s assault on knowledge and education, I find that I need to write down how academia is thriving despite the challenges that my country has decided to thrust upon it. Despite what might be said by said administration, there is value in not only the work that academics provide – but the community that is created amongst those who are curious. Even though it seems as if we are in the dark days of learning, I find myself in a community of scholars (mostly grad students) who are still excited to investigate ideas. Beyond the classroom, academia is a powerhouse of support – not only through the mentorship we provide one another (as I find mentorship can come from ANY source) but also through the shared pursuit of unending questions that never really have a true answer. 

In all, given my propensity for rambling when writing, I hope that this will help me realize what exactly I wish to focus on in general. I have a lot of questions, and a lot of answers, that (at least) I believe should and could be connected. While no one else may read my shouting into the vast expanse of the world wide web, I hope that it at the very least helps to organize my thoughts and narrow down my questions into a more manageable number (a false hope I fear…)