I did the service for the audience
to my blog, or anyone that cares to read it. As I stated when I submitted the
service opportunity to you, I have recently found writing my thoughts out very therapeutic.
It got me thinking that we all have a lot of knowledge on certain things. We
have our own point of view and that point of view is specific to each of us. I
thought by sharing my point of view and experiences that have helped me reach
higher and grow in my life could help others. So I have written several blogs
on topics that have either helped me in the past or are currently helping me.
Did anything surprise me?
Absolutely, for one, I realized that this service opportunity helped me more
than it probably helped anyone that read my blog. But more importantly, I
discovered something interesting. I wouldn’t necessarily say it surprised me,
but it was somewhat of an epiphany of sorts. I was recently writing one of my
blogs and towards the end got an urge to write differently, more honestly, but
was afraid of how I would be judged if someone I knew read it (in fact, I’ve
deleted a couple of my blog posts for being TOO open and honest about my
personal life to the point that I felt uncomfortable about it), but in my head
sometimes I feel like a different person. In fact, the inspiration for my blog
name came from Benjamin Franklin. He wrote as Mrs. Silence Dogood so that he
could publish his work in the New-England Courant. His brother James Franklin
was the founder and publisher of the paper. Benjamin was only 16 years old, so
in order to get his work published he would push the written letter under the
new pen name of the middle aged Silence Dogood under the door of the printing
shop every couple of weeks. I wonder if in his experience writing as Silence
Dogood, that perhaps he was able to write more honestly or openly as opposed to
if people knew it was him. Does that make sense?
This
experience DID reinforce what we are learning in this class, and I’ll tell you
why. This is a technology class. And this service assignment was an opportunity
to take advantage of technology oriented service. This is Web 2.0. I can
interact with, and contribute to the content on the web. That is an advance in
technology that just blows my mind, even now. What we are able to do is
amazing. So I think this was very fitting for this class.
The
worst part of this experience was being pressed to write more than I felt
inspired to write, which isn’t really that bad of a thing. I like to write
naturally, when I feel the prompting or the inspiration. I imagine it is how
J.K. Rowling felt after the surge of popularity her books gained. The best part
has been the discovery I have made for myself, about myself, and the feeling of
creating something that I hope others find value in. Or at least that it might
help them in some way.
I
believe service was included in this course and is found valuable by UVU for
the very things I have already stated. It adds so much to yourself as well as
others. We gain knowledge and it pushes us to gain new understanding we might
not otherwise achieve.
