One reason it took me so long to start blogging regularly (without the compulsion of a class) is I worried about whether my entries were skilled enough. Would I have the time to edit them completely for spelling and grammatical errors? Would they even make sense? When readers noticed, would they dismiss what I had written off-hand because of its imperfections?

The more time I spent with the Internet, however, the more I realized these fears were unfounded. The Internet, in my experience, represents a more open arena, where imperfection is tolerated and often encouraged. What's more important online I have found is that you are sharing, not that you are the most eloquent writer or even public speaker or actor, in the online video and podcast context, ever.

As I read about immanent art, I began to worry once again about my online skill set. The theory, which encourages scholars to study the form, structure and repetition of oral epics that lack recorded performances, such as Beowulf or even the Odyssey and Iliad, to determine what the oral performance would have been like. Many of the aspects of written epics that novices like me find repetitive actually contained cues and hidden references to greater truths that enhance the audience's experience with the epic.

I like this idea. Every day in this class makes me think I really need to get out and see some live performance of something, even if I can't find Homer at the Missouri Theater. But it made me doubt my skill once again. Is what I'm writing here really worthwhile because I'm just coming up with it from the top of my head? I don't imagine that anyone will ever read my writings are historic epic poetry, but should I at least spend more time embedding deep meanings the in the few words I choose?

The point I missed from the Immanent Art chapter of How to Read an Oral Poem is not that capitalizing on these features takes skill, which it does, but also that they can serve as shortcuts for those learning the craft. From this inspiration, I was also able to envision a little bit about what it might have been like to learn this tradition. It must have been much like my introduction to the Internet. The budding oral poet probably spent a lot of time attending performances and noticing the repeated phrases and structures. He also noticed how the poet used the performance space and interacted with his audience.

I've resolved, as the budding blogger that I am, to spend more time learning the form and function of blogging. I especially need to find better ways to interact with my audience. This can be as simple as something I learned from my mentor, Dr. Clyde Bentley. If you want interaction, you have to ask some questions. So give me a day or so to ponder and prepare and I'll have a great question soon!