tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post113890593670558431..comments2024-01-28T03:35:51.182-05:00Comments on Reassigned Time: The Personal and the PublicDr. Crazyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1139192211750231172006-02-05T21:16:00.000-05:002006-02-05T21:16:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.litprofhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04207910700529199758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1139088985669169962006-02-04T16:36:00.000-05:002006-02-04T16:36:00.000-05:00Affirmation: I found this to be a wonderful though...Affirmation: I found this to be a wonderful thoughtful post.<BR/><BR/>Narcissistic self-reflection: I too have found it paradoxical that what I must keep most under wraps on my blog is my professional identity. I feel very constrained by not being able to discuss specifics of what I am doing in my research or even what field I am in. But, I started my blog as attempt to chronicle life as a woman scientist, because I felt very alone and couldn't find another place for community with women undergoing the same things. So I have contradictory purposes: my writing helps me but (I hope) it also helps my readers too - at least to know they are not alone.<BR/><BR/>It would be nice to find a professionally-safe and societally-acceptable way to show our whole persons on blogs, but we obviously aren't there yet.ScienceWomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17144262447487095454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1139082360299441612006-02-04T14:46:00.000-05:002006-02-04T14:46:00.000-05:00I love you, Dr. C. (Oh no, that's just an affirmi...I love you, Dr. C. (Oh no, that's just an affirming, fannish comment--I have to post something more substantive and intellectual, or I'll drag your blog into the "boring" category!)<BR/><BR/>I think your point about the gendering thing is, of course, right; and it's linked to the main argument here, that the revelation of public information is less risky than the private stuff. There's a real resistance, which we all probably feel, to the revelation that ideological structures contain paradoxes and untruths: that a "good marriage" doesn't fit a known model, that "career girls" have not, in fact, "given up" personal lives for their jobs, and so on. The identity models for women are narrower and more confining, I think, than those for men. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, there's a lot of risk in men doing that stuff too. All one needs to do is think of the way undergraduates react to, say, Nabokov or Donne: they focus on judging the *author's* moral standing vis-a-vis sex rather than considering the nuances of narration, context, ideology. When the generic categories are more fucked up (we have yet to establish the precise distinctions between a writer, an author, and a narrator in blog-land), then the problems become even more acute.bitchphdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118578280520171800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138996807351815612006-02-03T15:00:00.000-05:002006-02-03T15:00:00.000-05:00You're so nice, Mommyprof :)Also, I've got a comme...You're so nice, Mommyprof :)<BR/><BR/>Also, I've got a comment to post for a reader who can't comment because she doesn't have a blogger account (which I require in my ever-vigilant efforts to prevent spam):<BR/><BR/>Premises Related to Blogging/Bloggers:<BR/><BR/> * Bloggers are narcissists, who seek validation and approval from <BR/>audiences of "fans."<BR/> * Blogging is the equivalent of journaling if it includes personal <BR/>content.<BR/> * Bloggers ask for what they get in terms of comments because they <BR/>post what they do in a public forum.<BR/><BR/>I disagree with your premises.<BR/><BR/>I started my blog for a number of reasons, some of which included: <BR/>curiosity, desire to be able to *find* the stuff I'd written/thought <BR/>about, and a desire to publish on a few topics of interest to me. <BR/>Validation? Fans? Not particularly a motive.<BR/><BR/>Along the way, I wrote about personal/family issues (usually in <BR/>passing) which came to the attention of a person who did not wish to be <BR/>written about. Much unnecessary drama ensued, as that person chose to <BR/>communicate those desires to me through a rather aggressive attorney. <BR/>All the person needed to do was to tell me my comments violated his <BR/>privacy. Sigh. I removed all mention of most of my family from the <BR/>blog.<BR/><BR/>So I adopted a blogging policy to help me make decisions in the future. <BR/> It includes the caveat that I will edit comments as I see fit.<BR/><BR/>http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2005/12/ <BR/>blogging_princi.html<BR/><BR/>(every time I link to it, I see the Socrates typo, and resolve to fix <BR/>it and don't)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138993064094571642006-02-03T13:57:00.000-05:002006-02-03T13:57:00.000-05:00I'll get you one closer to 20.I'll get you one closer to 20.MommyProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12040890762575693250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138982045228727112006-02-03T10:54:00.000-05:002006-02-03T10:54:00.000-05:00Ok, let me chime in: the blogging = narcissism ang...Ok, let me chime in: the blogging = narcissism angle is something I'm not so sure about. I started reading blogs because of an assignment I gave my own students; I got sucked into the world of mama blogs after I did a sample presentation for my students on the dot moms' blog. I kept reading over the summer, gradually surfing around more and more and found a stable core of blogs I liked to read. And I really liked the writing, and eventually got restless and envious and thought "i want to write like that, too." So that's why I started: beautiful writing, beautiful thoughtful writing simply appeals to me (for some of the reasons bored dominatrix cites). And I felt I was in a writing rut myself, and blogging has added some writing discipline to my life, which I like. Is that all narcissistic? Not sure.<BR/><BR/>I think sometimes people blog, too, to get views aired, again not in a solely personal way (birthmothers have recently started blogging, drawing attention to that fact, joining forces in a blogring). It's partly b/c they each individually have a story to tell, and partly out of a desire to serve the common good, to get their views into a dominant discourse on adoption they view as ignoring them.<BR/><BR/>This is a really thoughtful post. Lots to think about. Thanks.susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12000470374101306070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138981083176269232006-02-03T10:38:00.000-05:002006-02-03T10:38:00.000-05:00Well, you're welcome for complimenting me on the p...Well, you're welcome for complimenting me on the post, and now I have a compliment for you all: thank YOU for the thoughtful responses. I'm still processing what you all have said - and still thinking over what I said, to be honest - but one thing I want to make sure I respond to What Now:<BR/>I don't imagine that there will be no "personal" stuff on this blog - and I think some has already found it's way here - but at the same time the different tone/voice/whatever and my different agenda in this space I think will necessarily make whatever I choose to put here different from what I had posted over on the other blog. I don't think that's bad or good - just different, you know? And at this point I'm still not sure what form it will take. I suppose the reason I wanted to write about what's happening with Bitch PhD is that I identified with her (on a much smaller scale, obviously) because as I read the comments I got a feeling similar to one I often got when people would post on some of the things I'd write about my personal life over at the other blog. Whether people were supportive or not, I often felt somehow... limited by the way that they responded to me, but I also felt like I produced those responses because of choices that I was making, so I was somehow complicit in the negative feelings that I was having. In the new space I don't feel that, but I do think I've also lost some of the zing of the old blog. That's ok, though. I think it's ok not always to be zingy, and in some cases preferable.<BR/><BR/>At any rate, again, thank you all for the thoughtful comments. I promise to respond more fully later. Also, if anybody finds this thread and wants to continue the conversation, do not hesitate to post a comment. I always feel like when I comment back it shuts people up, which I hate. I really don't want to have the last word on everything (though on some things....)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138980559273925092006-02-03T10:29:00.000-05:002006-02-03T10:29:00.000-05:00Really fabulous, thought-provoking post.A couple o...Really fabulous, thought-provoking post.<BR/><BR/>A couple of comments.<BR/><BR/>One, I have two blogs. They're kind of inter-related, in that I mention each on the other. I started the second because I realized that there was just somehow not room for certain topics on the first. In the beginning I thought the second blog would be a place to talk about sex, but it has turned out that it's where I talk about a much more dangerous topic: my tenure-track job.<BR/><BR/>I never paid much attention to blogging until last August, when someone asked me to look at his blog on Blogger, and I noticed that little "get your own blog" button. And then I started thinking about what blogging is and how it functions and it just kind of clicked for me, what it can be for, and about, and why people do it, and why I *needed* to do it as part of my intellectual, artistic and scholarly endeavor.<BR/><BR/>My main area is contemporary American literary nonfiction--i.e, memoir and the essay. And it occurred to me, as I thought about blogging, that if Montaigne, father of the essay, were alive today, he would be a blogger. It is the space where people ATTEMPT (*essayer* in French, hence the word "essay") to figure out how to say things that matter about the topics that matter to them, and I personally think that is very, very cool.<BR/><BR/>The entry you have posted here, Dr. Crazy, is a marvelous essay. It is thoughtful and educated and personal. It does many of the things good essays do, and it does them well. And not only does it function as a thoroughly great essay, but the way it is disseminated allows for this great conversation.<BR/><BR/>I don't know what's going to happen with blogging. I know it's important. I admit I didn't read your old blog because I didn't discover it before it was defunct, but I love this blog. And I check it more often than Bitch PhD because, well, because I like your voice better.<BR/><BR/>For what that's worth.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Speaking of dead French guys, has anyone read Philippe Lejeune, on "The Autobiographical Pact" and "Looking at a Self-Portrait" and such? I love this:<BR/><BR/>It's best to get on with the confessions: yes, I have been fooled. I believe that we can promise to tell the truth; I believe in the transparency of language, and in the existence of a complete subject who expresses himself through it; I believe that my proper name guarantees my autonomy and my singularity;... I believe that when I say "I," it is I who am speaking: I believe in the Holy Ghost of the first person. And who doesn't believe in it? But of course it also happens that I believe the contrary. Whence the fascination that "Roland Barthes par Roland Barthes" has held for me; it seems to be the anti-Pact par excellence and proposes a dizzying game of lucidity around all the presuppositions of autobiographical discourse--so dizzying that it ends up giving the reader the illusion that it is not doing what it is nevertheless doing. "In the field of the subject, there is no referent." To a lesser degree, and more candidly, many autobiographers have outlined analogous strategies. We indeed know all this; we are not so dumb, but, once this precaution has been taken, we go on as if we did not know it. Telling the truth about the self, constituting the self as complete subject--it is a fantasy. In spite of the fact that autobiography is impossible, this in no way prevents it from existing.bluestockinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15964950589432882745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138976420730235962006-02-03T09:20:00.000-05:002006-02-03T09:20:00.000-05:00Thanks for the thoughtful post.Gotta admit, I've b...Thanks for the thoughtful post.<BR/><BR/>Gotta admit, I've been mystified by the whole "men blog better" thing. There are a few good male bloggers (I try!), but most of the folks I actually read are (apparently) women. Maybe it has to do with the willingness to blend the personal and the public; to my mind, the best test of public things is their effect on actual people. Only the ability to jump back and forth, thoughtfully, can allow for really helpful discourse. Otherwise you just get the ritualistic shouting of our politics.<BR/><BR/>Authorial position can be fairly concrete. The fact that I put my job title in both my pseudonym and my blog's title is very much deliberate; the small corner of the academic universe I occupy seems to be mysterious to many, and I consider my contribution (if any) to be in demystifying it (which, paradoxically, requires a certain anonymity). <BR/><BR/>I agree that Bitch is an extraordinary blogger, and that the venom people spew at her personal life seems entirely inappropriate. I've never commented on any of her 'open marriage' entries, just because it never seemed like it was my place to. Her marriage is her own, and what she chooses to share about it is her call. My choices (about both marriage and writing about marriage) are different, but whatever.<BR/><BR/>Blending the personal and the public in a thoughtful way isn't easy, especially when you need to maintain a certain anonymity. Relatively few people do it well. They're the ones I keep coming back to. Blog on, Dr. C.Dean Dadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04956229655057842122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138942456848864172006-02-02T23:54:00.000-05:002006-02-02T23:54:00.000-05:00I read this post a bit earlier, thought about it w...I read this post a bit earlier, thought about it while reading other blogs (including Bitch Ph.D.'s superlong comment threads), then got out my trusty <I>Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism</I> because I couldn't find the link I wanted online. My immediate reaction was to think of Jane Tompkins's essay "Me and My Shadow." This essay has stuck with more than any other essay in that whole, damn, big blue book, and for one reason: <BR/><BR/>"Most of all, I don't know how to enter the debate without leaving everything else behind--the birds outside my window, my grief over Janice, just myself as a person sitting here in stockinged feet, a little bit chilly because the windows are open, and thinking about going to the bathroom. But not going yet."<BR/><BR/>I think it's easy to forget that the author is a real person too (wiggling in her chair because she needs to pee, but has to keep writing 'cause she's on a roll), and that "author" does not equal "real person." That an authorial voice is a performance, and we all have many characters that we play. <BR/><BR/>For that reason, blogs are brilliant because they allow all of those disparate characters to come together on one stage. But it bothers me that 19 years after Tompkins essay was published (<I>New Literacy History</I> 19 and <I>Gender and Theory</I>, ed. Linda Kauffman) the same issues of public and private voice exist. I know 19 years isn't *that* long in some academic circles, but 19 years ago none of us could have imagined this medium for communication.<BR/><BR/>That said, thank you, Dr. Crazy, for bringing up such an important issue and not letting me forget.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if Jane Tompkins has a blog.Tree of Knowledgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14037710157338503215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138922246300617462006-02-02T18:17:00.000-05:002006-02-02T18:17:00.000-05:00Interesting post. Here's a comment sort of similar...Interesting post. Here's a comment sort of similar to Virago's: I had stopped reading your former blog, and I reguarly read your current blog, because I'm more comfortable with the tone and have more to respond to the content of your new blog. But I hate to think that your personal life, aside from your "career girl" life, would have to disappear from your blogging in this new home. So how do these personas that we create or these voices that we adopt shape how we present our lives?<BR/><BR/>Food for thought here. Thanks.What Now?https://www.blogger.com/profile/04017629066466055668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138922114155740022006-02-02T18:15:00.000-05:002006-02-02T18:15:00.000-05:00re: blogging as narcissism:Starting a blog implies...re: blogging as narcissism:<BR/><BR/>Starting a blog implies that you think what you have to say matters to people, on whatever level, whether it's updating your family on your everyday life or calling the attention of total strangers to political issues. I agree that it's easy to translate that into an assumption of narcissism: "Listen to me/my authorial voice!" But speaking personally implies narcissism, I think, only if you refuse to listen in turn; for me, commenting and getting comments on blogs is much of why I started one in the first place. So perhaps I'm duplicating your previous blog entry with this comment, but I don't think that enjoying being part of an ongoing conversation is the same as needing adoration from fans. (I know you're not arguing this yourself - I'm just responding to the assumption you've been discussing. Perhaps those making that assumption feel like they're on the outside of the conversation.)kermitthefroghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15742856153167362749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138919552924439312006-02-02T17:32:00.000-05:002006-02-02T17:32:00.000-05:00I get your point, but what about if someone blogs ...I get your point, but what about if someone blogs about something cos they think it's genuinely useful? Like Bitch PhD's bra post for example? And I did one (and only one!) post once in which I blogged about something that I genuinely thought was important and that people would benefit from knowing it, rather than, say, 'I think society is patriarchal, here's how I interpreted this news paper article' (a favourite of mine!)<BR/>I do get the point about the editorial column, it is a very persuasive point. But I'm not sure if saying that something is narcisisitic because the writer has deemed it important. But I don't know...tricky one. (have I just made the same point again?!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138914088603292622006-02-02T16:01:00.000-05:002006-02-02T16:01:00.000-05:00Re: the more political bloggers as narcissists: We...Re: the more political bloggers as narcissists: Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's possible to read anybody who blogs as a narcissist because I don't think it's JUST about sharing information. Perhaps that's not true of group blogs, but for blogs run by individuals, I'd say that one goes to that blog for that person's perspective and voice. It's kind of like a person is running his/her own daily column in a newspaper, only there are no editors to oversee the thing. In that regard, I'd say that it can be (although I'm sure isn't always) appealing to one's self-involved side. I'm not sure that blogging is inherently narcissistic, but I do think that many if not most people think of it as such, even if one has a blog of one's own. (In that case I think it often comes out as a fear of appearing narcissistic.)<BR/>And I think I did write on the old blog about this in some fashion, and I think my argument was something like blogging is in fact less narcissistic because it's interactive vs. academic writing being more solipsistic (at its worst). I don't know. I say a lot of things on my blog. (smile)<BR/><BR/>Heya, Virago. That's so interesting that thing that you say about my change in voices (says the narcissistic blogger) :) But really, what you're noting.... the kind of... aggressiveness of the Dr. Crazy voice on the other blog ultimately began to feel very limiting to me. I'd be inclined to say that this voice is more like the "real" me, but you know, that's not really true either. Probably the real me is a combination of the two that can't really be translated onto a blog. But part of the reason I really needed to change was so that it wouldn't be so hard to switch gears between my academic voice and my blogging voice. I think I'm hearing voices....Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138913363619901742006-02-02T15:49:00.000-05:002006-02-02T15:49:00.000-05:00A really thoughtful post, Dr. Crazy. (And I'm not...A really thoughtful post, Dr. Crazy. (And I'm not saying that just to be affirming! :) )<BR/><BR/>You know, it's funny, I stopped reading the big blogs' voluminous comments a long time ago (except Berube's) because I just don't have time, so I wouldn't have been inclined to comment on those posts of Dr. B's anyway, but my first thought was, in fact, "Wow, how can you say anything to that -- especially without really knowing what's going on." So I was startled when she took down the first post and said "but read the comments" and noted the huge number.<BR/><BR/>So along the lines of your two blogs/personalities having inverse relations to the personal and public, Dr. Crazy, I was surprised to see that Bitch's most "personal" post received some of the most public attention. I don't know what to make of it -- it just seems weird. And proabably very, very gendered, as you point out.<BR/><BR/>And speaking of the two "voices" of your blog, Dr. Crazy, I now have to confess something that I think will make you laugh. I was reading your old blog long before I got the nerve to comment, and part of why it took my so long to comment was because I was actually really intimidated by "you" (or the "you" on that blog) despite the fact that I identified with so many of your stories (especially dating woes, but also teaching stuff, etc.). Clearly, I got over the intimidation, but nevertheless I've felt much more automatically comfortable with the "you" here. All of which says more about me than you -- oops! sorry! -- except that I wanted to point out I noticed the change in voice in a big way.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138912810915668322006-02-02T15:40:00.000-05:002006-02-02T15:40:00.000-05:00Very interesting post. Bloggers are narcissists? H...Very interesting post. Bloggers are narcissists? Hmm. What about the more political ones? I think sometimes blogging is a good platform for sharing information, I do it sometimes, you do too, then you've got Bitch PhD, Pandagon and Femniste who do it as a matter of course. I know one could say that sharing information that an individual deems important is narcissistic, but I'm not 100% sure...Tricky...Didn't you write about this before? Comparing blogging with academic writing?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138912609213579592006-02-02T15:36:00.000-05:002006-02-02T15:36:00.000-05:00Oh, I agree with you that she gets a lot of affirm...Oh, I agree with you that she gets a lot of affirming comments, and even throughout this mess she has as well. See, this is where my post wasn't a direct response but rather a jumping off kind of a post. I'd say, as well, that "positive" comments might have the same sort of regulatory effect as the negative, in this case, no? Part of why I was interested enough to continue with the comments over on Dr. B's blog is that it occurred to me that both her detractors and supporters (at times) were putting her in her place, just in different ways, for what she'd written. <BR/><BR/>Again, the point here of my post, though, wasn't about that particular brouhaha per se or about Dr. B's blog as much as it is about the crap it inspired me to think about. You know, me-me-me, the narcissist who runs this blog ;)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20099192.post-1138907961309912002006-02-02T14:19:00.000-05:002006-02-02T14:19:00.000-05:00thoughtful post. I'm not sure I have anything to ...thoughtful post. I'm not sure I have anything to add to it. Your last paragraph rings true in some ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com