Before I launch into scholarly discussion of oral traditions and the Internet, I thought I would introduce myself briefly and explain why I'm writing. Just in case anyone from outside class ever reads this, I'm doing this for more than just a grade. I've wanted to start a blog for a long time. The class just gave me a good excuse to do it. The analytic nature of the class in question also gives me pause to examine why I have wanted to join the thousands, even millions, of others sharing online and just what we might get from this endeavor.

I've always had a compulsion to share, but I've also always needed structure. I can't write without deadlines and well defined audiences. Maybe that's what led me to a newspaper career. At a newspaper, I could feel good about sharing because the news I related was supposed to inform lives and in the grand sense, enrich democracy. Blogging, as fun as it was to read, seemed a bit useless to me. A lot of it seemed like the rants and raves of isolated loaners. As high minded as I tried to be however, I quickly found I was participating in sites that meshed with my interests, no matter how inconsequential they seemed. The two sites I contribute to frequently deal with the most mundane of topics: sports and video games.

Overcoming this compulsion to change the world with my writing was the first step. The second deals with writing without a deadline. I guess the class kind of takes care of that for this exercise, but I hope it teaches the discipline I'll need to continue even when I'm not graded.
Finally, the last obstacle is the need for an editor. I think I'm a good writer, but I've always subscribed to the notion that a good editor helps even the best writers. While blogging, I thought I'd miss having that guidance, but frankly I don't. In fact, I've got more editors now than I could have ever imagined. One of the most nurturing aspects of the blogosphere is its collaborative and cooperative. On another blog to which I contribute to publicize my research, I've been pleasantly surprised at how willing to share and how polite most Internet users are.

The only thing I still need to work on is not worrying so much about whether my entries are perfect before publishing. Maybe this is also something readers can remedy. The more they want, maybe the faster I'll work.

In other words, I hope you enjoy what you see here. If you do, drop me a line!