Though my last post was strictly for fun, I have been thinking a lot about the purpose of this blog, fears about what it might become if I'm not careful, and the things that it simply can never be.
I started this thing a year and a half ago to fill the massive creative void left in my life after Bennington. Without the challenge of producing work for classes, helping with my friends' projects, and even Purple Room discussions, I found the lack of creative challenge in the post-college world disorienting. For various reasons it was difficult to sit down and work on my more ambitious ideas, and the smaller ones that would pop into my head fizzled and died without a medium for me to nurture them. Writing Facebook notes was a good start, and I felt a blog would be good motivation for me to continue developing these smaller ideas. It was never meant to be a daily record of my life, as I find these boring to read and laborious to write. I thought of the blog then, and still do now, as a way of keeping my writing skills in tune and a dumping ground for smaller ideas that are ill-suited for a wider audience.
Now I worry that recounting my experiences in Japan may become the focus point of this blog. I originally kept these separate as the numbered Life in Japan entries, though writing about Mt. Fuji, Nova, and tissues has blurred that line. I run the very real risk that the few people who read this may begin turning to this blog for an update of my travel experiences instead of, you know, actually talking to me about them.
I'm also at a point where I feel ready to embark on more ambitious projects, whether they be long-term (which I may discuss later) or articles about Japan directed at a wider audience. I'm currently looking into ways of approaching the latter; and though I feel ready to write about Japan with more articulate, developed voice, I am afraid I do not yet understand this place well enough to write about it well. When this does happen (or the bigger projects come into fruition), I may venture to use this space as a record of those projects and the issues I'm tackling, since I don't have other Benningtonians to shoot ideas back and forth with on the way to VAPA anymore. Randall has been doing this quite successfully for some time, and as always I encourage you to read his blog to follow the work that he's involved in (he's certainly linked to mine enough times).
I doubt anyone is still reading this with anything more intense than a light skim; but if you are, expect more of the same mix of disassociated reflections, personal experiences, and poorly-lit pictures; but now with an extra dose of free-thought.
We now resume our regularly scheduled programming.
3 comments:
It's funny, I have felt much the same in my feeble attempts to write interesting Facebook notes or to blog (I've made mine private for now since I have been rambling and it's not exactly interesting to anyone but me, and maybe someday to a therapist). It's funny in that not-haha kind of way how big a hole in my life there is now that college is over and I can no longer wander into someone's unlocked bedroom to tell them what I'm thinking. I wonder if people who went to more traditional schools find this to be true, or if they are able to carry over into reality more smoothly. Hell, I wonder if we of the Purple Room are unique even among Benningtonians in our struggle to find meaning in a sometimes bland and predictable world. Crazies among crazies, if you will.
Either way, I enjoy reading about tissues so if you would like to argue the merits of the little plastic packs versus the bigger square boxes, let's throw down.
no offense taken, man. it's a fair assessment.
Speaking of... I watched Lost in Translation for the first time in... YEARS the other day. What an amazing movie.
And... i found someone with sound editing equipment had enhanced and enhanced and enhanced Bill Murray's inaudible final words to Scarlett... I wont tell you what they are if you don't want me to, but I was very impressed.
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