Does it happen to anyone else who’s been blogging for a time that no post makes it through one’s own self-filter, either out of concern for relevancy or job security or just plain fear?
Or is it just me?
It’s Funny, Almost Silly
9 thoughts on “It’s Funny, Almost Silly”
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right there with you. power through it.
ayep.
It’s just you, the rest of us are footloose and carefree 🙂
Yes, I struggle with the same thing. It got a lot tougher for me once I knew I had an audience beyond my own building. Before the wider audience, I knew that others might read it, but I was writing mainly for just my staff and students. I still blog primarily for my staff and students, but I’m always conscious of trying to make my posts at least make some sense for the wider audience.
I also struggle with the “I haven’t had time to read what everyone else has blogged so I hope I’m not repeating what someone has already said or posing a problem that someone has already solved” issue. So far I haven’t stopped posting, but I certainly am more careful before clicking the “publish” button.
The good news, though, is that I think this is helping me work through what all this means for our students. Not that I have the answer yet, but I think the process is going to help me get there.
So, like Jeremiah, I encourage you to power through it. We need you to be part of the conversation.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an idea for a post and then decided against it. The flip side is when I do post something and then the next day wish I hadn’t.
I’m amazed to find how much courage it takes to be really controversial. I guess maybe some people are just obtuse, but those really annoying people like Ann Coulter who say so many stupid things all the time actually have to have a lot of courage to do what they do.
It doesn’t make me agree with what most of them say any more than I did before, but at least now I appreciate that what they do is difficult.
I blog primarily as a teacher researcher at this point so I’m not trying to be anything close a political pundit, but I still want to provoke thought, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.
Two things keep me from blogging greatness-
fear of adding noise rather than real value
and
the absolute necessity of keeping my job
Well, maybe more than two but those are the main ones. 🙂
Tom
I am often afraid of speaking the truth aloud, but I am more terrified of remaining silent when I should have spoken. The secret, if there is one, is in being transparent about the fear, sharing that it is my fear that distorts the truth that I speak aloud…and the fear that makes speaking that truth–no matter the cost–all the more an act of divinity.
Does that make sense?
Most grateful when you podcast,
Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-mGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net
Oh how so true. Gosh even concurring in a simple comment like this is full of terminology and language agonized over and considered beyond the appropriateness of its intent, (and this is a supportive and agreeable place to write).
Oh how often it is that the “self-filter” sitting on the shoulder overlooking the keyboard makes what should be a cleansing experience one of overwrought agony.
Why do we do it? Maybe ‘cos we care?
Uh yeah. Written about it a few times, most recently here. Sometimes I wonder if one of the greater things I get out of the blogging community is the comforting knowledge that so many other educators are dealing with the same issues, questions, and fears as me.
Anyway, I have only one piece of advice to impart to you. “Carry on my wayward son.” — Inscribed many times in my yearbook. I think it may have come from some song or something 😉
I too have allowed the self-filter to almost beat me into silence. It seems like balancing on a tightrope risking either absurdity or inanity.