Yesterday, I met with Lisa Ede and we discussed teaching composition. I’ve assigned an adaptation of the “My Turn” essay that Newsweek publishes, and Lisa mentioned something profound. She stated that if the significance of an event is obvious, there is nothing to write about, which is true. Of course you’re going to learn that life is valuable and you should live every moment if you have a near-death experience (not to be flippant or dismissive of these topics), but it’s obvious, and you’re not really showing the reader new insights. Instead, take an experience that is novel in that others don’t often write about it, and show what is profound in the mundane. This is something that poets focus on: what can I see that’s unique in this situation.
Andd really, isn’t blogging a similar situation? Bloggers are supposed to be filters, supposed to either filter their personal life or the news or something, and find those events that are interesting and find some significance in it. If a blog is personal, then isn’t it your job to find what is significant in the drive to work this morning, in the breakfast that you ate. Not to just report what you ate, but to find the significance within it.
