Thoughts on Penrod Chapter 2

Everyone judges. It is one of the things that I dislike the most about myself. BUT, I believe it is human nature and a big part of it. We make comments about someone’s clothes or something they said. It is ugly but it is true. “Blogging and New Literacies” suggests that there is a way around this. That with blogging the body trap will disappear and students will be known for their mind and voice instead. “For students who find their bodies to be a trap, either because of physical disability, obesity, or adolescence, the ability to separate their voices from their bodies must be a liberating moment,” Penrod argues. I agree that blogging does this but I believe that, to some extent, we all live in a body trap-that these prejudices go beyond the adolescent or emotionally disabled or someone with a physical disability. I argue that there have been prejudices and judgment from time immortal. I see blogging as a way to have a loud and unique voice while remaining free from the judgment one has succumbed to in the past. Penrod suggests that blogging is a literary system of inclusion for many categories of students who have been historically isolated and I agree one hundred percent.

Penrod argues that because blogs are a public forum, instructors, administrators and parents do not have to be “grammar police” – the quality of the blog is guaranteed. It is a smart way to ensure self-education. I cannot remember all the times my little high school students bragged to me about how they duped another college entrance committee with an essay thrown together in one night using big vocabulary words. But a savvy reading populace would not be so easily duped. There are many more checks and balances in play. I look forward to blogging with my class and think that it is definitely the wave of the future.

test post

This is my first test post on my exciting new blog. YAY!