Sunday, December 03, 2006

Am I become a caricature of myself?

My friend on Acade(me) has decided to move on, leaving behind a parting post calling into question the honesty of her own and other's blogging of late. It's much for reflection.

What is the purpose of this blog? Has it fulfilled its aims? Is it still useful, to me or others? December 19 marks the anniversary of this blog, and my anniversary as a blogger. Perhaps the next two weeks will see me reflecting more and more on this space, its function in my life, and its impact on the lives of others.

I have seen many of my blogging friends move on from their ABD'dom to faculty or staff posts. I remain in many ways still where I was a year ago, in post-doc limbo. Somethings have changed, for sure, some external, some internal. But many of the questions, and doubts, and fears, and hopes remain little altered.

Much to reflect. We shall see.

2 comments:

Ahistoricality said...

Job status is not the only form of movement: recently you've been doing a lot of moving, both physical and structural (that office of yours?) and .... attitudinal (I was trying to come up with a good word to encapsulate your children's writing).

Blogging should change, as we change. Blogging should do something for us, and in the process it might, if we're lucky, do something for others.

Anyway, as pseudonymous bloggers go, you put up less of a persona than most (not lacking in personality; there's a difference, I think).

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with ahistoricality. I can feel that you're very honest and genuine in your writing, and that's one of the reasons I've been reading your blog. That's the reason why I just can't bring myself to blog anonymously. See? I just had an epiphany -- that's the reason why I don't read many of the most popular academic blogs as well, because those people are just creating a persona and I my gut feeling just doesn't let me enjoy their writing as much ... I'm going to post about this soon.

Anyway, I was slightly sad about Acade(me) in the beginning, but thrilled in the end because she moved on to another level of blogging communication, even if behind "closed doors" if you will.