Advise from Sexson

Hey everyone,
I e-mailed Dr. Sexson asking him ways to improve my blogs. He gave me some good advise that might be useful to others who were wondering the same question. Also, if you have anymore thoughts let me know.


Brianne: the best way to improve your blog is by reading the blogs of others and thinking through what makes them work (or not work). Clearly, in the Capstone there are some who are raising the bar very high. What are they doing to raise the bar, to engage the material so compellingly? the more you ask yourself these questions, the more your own blog will begin to mirror not what they say, but the manner and energy with which it is said. Given all that, successful blogs in my experience are ones that engage the texts and themes and issues of the class and bring to bear on this engagement the full energy and thoughtfulness that comes with having had previous classes and engagements with previous texts. Then there is the undefinable---the moment of insight expressed just right---rare even for the most exemplary of bloggers. You are on the right track when you bring to us those great pictures of Frye's "epiphany places" and title your blogs "Between two waves" and "Us Then." That's insight expressed just right. You are wandering down the wrong road when you ask what else can be said about eclipses-----when you know that we could have spent our whole class on the subject and not exhausted it. So----in a nutshell, get in conversation with a blogger in each class whose entries you admire----and try to figure out what's at the source of this admiration. It would be nice too if you could let them know of your admiration. Another thought is to bring this email exchange between us to your blog so that others can get in on the conversation and add some advise to you that I inevitably would miss. The whole idea of blog is interactive communication among peers. Let me know what you think.----MS