A draft - revisited.
After leaving my home for a year abroad and living in various towns/cities in Ontario, I've returned to Hamilton. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but there's something about this city that makes me want to blog. Before posting new 'comments', here's a post I drafted over a year ago.
A friend recently contacted me with an idea about writing to compliment the otherwise formality of science writing; thus began Postdoc at Large. Expanding on her first entry, imagination and function are tied in the blogger to shape the blog accordingly. This idea that the blog is an amorphous vehicle of seemingly infinite electronic possibility isn't new yet as a trend I'm aware some would argue it has past its use. Blogs may be going the way of the magazine or newspaper but I continue to suggest it as a simple way to practice one's voice. Small circulation - amongst an intimate group of peers - have historically been fruitful if we draw upon the diverse examples of Katherine Phillips' poetry and the beginnings of the avant garde poetry in the US.
That said, time has effected both examples differently: Phillip's poetry, accomplished and well circulated amongst the literati of her time, was forgotten or purposely buried by literature's boy's club (according to my colourful, thrift-shop loving, intimidatingly knowledgeable professor of fin de siecle literature), whereas the avant garde went (sadly) mainstream.
Returning to Postdoc at Large, I am cheered and encouraged when those around me start to flex their fingers. Recently, I attended my first workshop at Asian Arts Freedom School and though I am a pretender of sorts - being just a hair over the age limit - it was refreshing to be around youth who were unencumbered by the ever buzzing noise of academia whispering incessantly of the need to produceproduceproduce 'great work,' 'original work,' 'critical work.' If I had chosen graduate school with the thoughts that my writing might improve, I would have been very disappointed. There is still some soreness, because idealism and hope never seem to die, but realistically grad school has seemed less about sharing than I imagined.
I'm still writing papers and trying to wrap up this MA while helping run a business in downtown Hamilton but cultural studies, the arts and Hamilton are supremely complimentary topics! I'm looking forward to the intersections which will inspire me to post a comment.
