I'm graduating college in three weeks. Ask me how I feel about that five times and I'll give you five different answers, but I think that's normal. At least I hope. The past four years of my life have given me all I could have asked for: a quality education, great friends, a lot of personal growth and, fortunately, something to do after I graduate. So it's only natural for me to look back at my college experience with such fondness that I've been pushed into an extreme case of nostalgia.
Since I started this blog for my class on blogs I've had one trouble with blogging that I continue to deal with--the ability to say exactly what I'm feeling in text form. I'm not an extremely personal human, but I do tend to internalize a lot of my thoughts. I don't know whether to blame this on the technical journalism training that has steered me away from a written opinion or just my personality, but it's something I want to work on. I'll start with the help of one of my fellow bloggers, Ezra. Like me, Ezra is graduating soon and to reflect upon the past four years of her life she created a questionnaire to channel her thoughts.
Here's my attempt at answering the same questions she did at this very odd, I-don't-know-what-to-think-of-this point in my life:
1. Where are you right now? (You can answer literally, or you can stop giving boring answers to every question you’re asked, and think outside the box.)
I'm in Starbucks but I'm not really in Starbucks. My mind's somewhere else. I'm three weeks away from graduation and four from leaving only the second place I've ever called home. Ok, so maybe College Park isn't a "home" to be sad about leaving aesthetically. But this "livable community" has provided me with a lot. After graduation I'm moving to New York City for work. I think this adds to my mixed feelings about graduating. It'll be a completely new start, which is something I've always loved, but part of me just thinks college was too short. I'm just glad it happened.
2. What keeps you blogging? Your pride? Your mom? Wanting someone other than your cat to tell you that you’re awesome?
This class keeps me blogging. I'd like to blog more, but as I mentioned at the beginning of this post I have an awful filter that keeps me from saying what I want to (in blog form) and being OK with it. But I made the decision midway through this semester that I would make a strong effort to keep this blog alive after I graduate because I think it's good for me. I like that there is potential for me to grow out of my self censorship. When I do post I feel good about it. Blogging is a great way to learn about yourself and you can never do too much of that.
3. What blogs or bloggers do you look to for inspiration, ideas, or just to get the blog side of your brain turned on?
I've surprisingly found the novice blogs of my classmates to be the most helpful as I've tried to create a foundation for my blog. This isn't surprising because I didn't think they'd be great writers with provoking blogs. Rather, I felt more established blogs would be what I'd turn to for inspiration. But I've learned that the best way, at least for me, to be inspired is to learn from bloggers who aren't established yet either. We've all been in the same boat, which makes it impossible for me to say "I can't do that" and equally as impossible to not at least try something that has worked for their blogs in my own blogging.
4. What is your most Terp-like quality? Is you’re not a Terp, well, I’m sorry, but you should be. Go out and get Terpy. Then report back with your newly acquired Terp quality.
I used to be a tour guide at the University of Maryland, so I gave some rendition of an answer to this question often. The answer I'm going to give now was not even close to the one I gave two years ago to large groups of prospective students. But I'm two years older, so the changing of my answer is warranted. But my most Terp-like quality has to be my willingness to give most people, things and ideas a shot. Being a Terp, in my experience, means open mindedness. I felt it when I visited and it's one of the main reasons I decided to come here. Terps understand balance. I've managed to do so much in college because I've always been open to trying new things, listening to people's opinions and trying something even if I'm not sure it will work out. I think open mindedness is a critical part of who I am and who most Terps are and I wouldn't have wanted to go to any college where this wasn't true.
5. If you could pick any celebrity or politician to give your blog a shout out via Twitter, who would it be?
This may not completely fit the category, but Sloane Crosley. Publicist turned essayist, she's one of my favorite satirists. She's cool enough to be followed by Dwight Howard, too. I'd also love to be given a shout out via Twitter by Kevin Durant, because he's him and he chills.
6. Congrats. Wallace Loh stumbled upon your blog and wants to host an all-night party to celebrate your genius. You get to pick the campus building and the two professors who will be in charge of DJ-ing and food/drinks. Go:
We're definitely throwing down at Eppley Recreation Center so we can rage in the pool. Deborah Nelson, a pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist and faculty member in the journalism school will be spinning tracks. She shops at Value Village so I automatically feel inclined to respect her musical taste (even though I've never asked what it is). She screams cool and most of my classmates know she's going down as my favorite professor in college. Spot two would have to go to my mentor at USA Today, Alison Young, where I interned with their investigations team. I know technically she isn't one of my professors, and I'm incorrectly answering the question because of that, but she might as well have been. Like my other selection she's an amazing journalist and all-around great person.
7. And finally, a serious question. What have you learned from blogging? Did you learn about writing? Did you learn about people? Did you learn how easy it is to get distracted on the internet? (But jk on the last one; you already knew that, of course.)
I've learned all the things this question suggests and more. I've learned that people have the ability to agree, disagree and learn from each other in many more ways than we think. Blogging has made me realize that discussion and debate are no longer just done vocally, but over the internet. I've learned that people love this new form of debate because it allows anyone to chime in, regardless of their location. I also learned that writing doesn't always have to have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn't need to be in the form of a news story, with a beginning, middle and some type of end. Blogging can be short and quick or long, it doesn't really matter and it largely depends on the topic you're committing a post to. That's probably my favorite revelation from this blogging experiment.
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