Blogging Begins

Writing boot camp has begun! Well, not really.

“The Weblog as a Medium for Nonfiction Creative Writing” met for the first time this semester just a few hours ago. Upon arriving at the white-spotted Barrows Hall, a building very becoming of our campus, I followed some dilapidated signage downstairs and across a pale checkered floor to the smallest classroom I’ve ever seen in my life. A walk-in closet with desks. At this point my grand expectations now felt somewhat limited, if you will.

Class started with the characteristic DeCal start: a chatty first-year asks if this is “that one seminar”, passively argues with facilitator about telebears troubles and miscommunication, leaves, and stifled awkwardness ensues.

The classroom size obviously was not a big help at this point: students were forced to sit and face every which way to fit desks/backpacks/bodies/children together, but we managed.

Our facilitator was also new to DeCals, nervous and green with respect to blogs: he’s never made one himself. His intentions are still golden, though, and this class still intends to focus on developing better writers and expanding writing ability within the context of nonfiction writing through peer critiques, workshops, and written prose.

Each week we are expected to write:

1) Separate appraisals for 4 different writing samples from other students to give feedback on writing styles, and

2) 5 entries on any topic that we want, with 1 of these owning some size superiority in relation to our other 4 works, and

3) A 5-10 page final paper on whatevah.

Lots and lots of writing.

Fortunately, of these writing samples, we are unrestricted either in subject or style, so long as we write. This post counts, too. Hell, this might even count for one of those weekly biggies. Maybe this won’t be so difficult.