Blogging for me has been an exciting journey this year, and I’m excited to look back to how blogging has affected me, and to look at some of the lessons I took away from it. I’m going to try to answer every question, but leave each answer concise
For me, blogging has helped me to develop my voice in my informal writings, helping to make my personality shine through my words. Before this class, I never wrote anything that was between the causality of a text message to the formality of an essay, so at first it was difficult for me to find a style that I could comfortably write in but still convey all of my ideas. As seen in this image, I think I was doing “too much”, and as an effect my voice sounded fake, but I’m glad the blogging process helped me to stray away from that habit.
My favorite blog, and also the one I am most proud of, was my most recent post, where I went in depth into all of the watches I own. It was a nice way for me to share a niche hobby I have with the rest of the class, yet still get an assignment done, and I think that that post had the most of my individual voice in it, explaining all of the vocabulary, and gushing about my favorite parts of each piece. My vacation list is a close second, but I am content with my first pick.
For me, I picked Ceremony because it combined two voices: one I was familiar with and one I was not. I was familiar with Tayo’s main character’s voice of being a young man with mental health struggles and moving to get help, but his NA and veteran voices were interesting to me. I would recommend you try and pick a book with at least one similar and different voice to you as a reader, to get the most out of the book.
My voices project helped teach me to absorb and diffuse information from all over. I had originally had a plan in mind for what I wanted to do for my project, but after watching some of my peers’ presentations, I saw aspects I wanted to mirror, and others I knew wouldn’t work for me and my ideas. With those guides, my presentation became more focused than it was in my original plan, furthering the importance of being flexible with plans and open to change.
The most important thing I learned about myself at NNHS is that some things just don’t work out, and that’s okay. I went into school trying to pinhole my way through the same classes my brother and his friends took, but I soon realized that I was very different from those people, so it was natural that my path would be different as well. That lesson branched out into my community and my world, and it helped shape me to understand that I’m really good at some things and terrible at others, and that’s just a fact I have to accept.
Be original. I have made relationships with students and staff alike just by being myself. Some people like it when I’m my normal goofy self, and other don’t, so spend time figuring out who likes what and balance yourself accordingly. Finally, never change yourself completely because someone is uncomfortable with you or what you like. If you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else, tell anyone who tells you to change to buzz off.