Your First Blog Post: Instructions, Potential Ideas, and Readings for Tuesday

Hey all,

I have placed all links to student blogs on the right hand side of this webpage--if you don't see yours, that means you must still send your blog URL. Here's what your URL should look like: "nameofblog.blogspot.com". Please send those along to me ASAP if you haven't already, otherwise I won't be able to read or give you credit for your first blogging assignment.

Now is the perfect time for you to write your first BLOG POST. As I said in class, this first post is mandatory. There are a few points in the semester where I'll ask you to complete a required blog post, and now is one of those times.

You have until Monday, 2/1 at 10pm to complete your first blog post. Here's what you have to do:

Read the following essay by Kathy Acker. Try to take some notes based on your reactions to the piece. Here's the link to the reading:

Kathy Acker "Against Ordinary Language: The Language of the Body"

After reading the Acker essay, listen to Roxanne Edward's interview with Dis Magazine, and respond both to her interview and the accompanying images in a blog post. Here's the link for the interview:

Roxanne Edwards is Superhuman (INTERVIEW)

Here's the link for the photos of Roxanne that accompany the interview:

Roxanne Edwards is Superhuman (PHOTOS)

The interview is about 20 minutes long, so before you begin writing your blog post, it might help you take some notes as you listen, and write down your observations and reactions to Edwards. Does she have what you believe to be a healthy body image? Does she interact with her body in ways that differ from how you interact with yours, and if so, how? How does Roxanne Edwards approach the issue of being a black female bodybuilder, as opposed to being white, or being male? Does Roxanne Edwards contest (attempt to resist) normative ideals of femininity? What part of this interview and photo gallery do you find most alarming, or attractive, or repulsive, or admirable? Where are your reactions coming from?

Your blog post will be at least 500 words in length. You can write about any aspect of the interview that intrigues you, but it has to meet a few criteria:

• You have to directly reference the interview at least twice in your blog post, using quotes. 
• Your post should not only describe the interview, but it should connect your observations of the interview to something we have talked about in class.
• If applicable, you can reference personal memories or experiences that you've had, and connect them to an aspect of the interview.

Your blog post does not have to be as polished or as pristine as a term paper--your blog should be a space for you to work out ideas and connect them both to class discussion and to your own positions as writers.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Tuesday.

-Greenlee