JeremyBarrick

Upon entering college, one is thrown into the world with no guard to hold onto.

Many experiences are new, which become memories that are etched into ones mind

forever. One thing about college, journalism specifically, was learning to blog, or getting

to know what one was. It was last fall, my first semester, I thought that the taking

journalism classes was going to be a cake-walk, well, it wasn't. I logged onto a computer

and froze. I said "What do I do?" "I have no friggen clue what this guy is telling me, and I

have no clue what a blog is!" I researched the word, blog comes from two separate words

web+log=Blog. After I had gotten to know what the word meant, I began to blog. Ever

since that Fall semester, I haven't stopped blogging.

It seems that first year students have a hard time with their blogs. I have asked

several of my classmates their own personal experiences with blogging, they said the

following: Michelle Polly, a freshmen at Seton Hill University(SHU) said " This is the

first year that I have blogged. It was hard at first, but now I seem to enjoy it. I may start

blogging, outside of the class, if I find something to blog about, or holds my interest."

Chelsea Oliver, a freshmen at SHU said "I didn't even have a blog at the beginning of

the semester. I didn't know how to open mine, another student had to help me, she opened

it up very quickly. The problem I have with blogging in this class(Media Lab) is that the

size of the class is too small."

One seasoned veteran of blogging in EL200 is that of Kayla Sawyer, a junior at

SHU. Sawyer has been blogging for a few years now, and has gotten very good at it.

Sawyer said "I do it because it's assigned. I read the chapters in our book (Stephens), find

an interesting idea, and respond to it. The blog then gets a response from other

classmates, who may find what I had written interesting and informing."

People who blog have specific ways in which they approach their blog. Some

write on ideas thay may have, while others blog on hot to do something, or make

something, others blog on what they have read. Either way, blogging gets a point across

to his/her audience, as a form of communication.

I take to my blog as follows, I read a section in the assigned book(Stephens), find a good

quote, or statement, then form my own ideas about it, then I blog it.

Dr. Jerz, Associate Professor of English--New Media Journalism at SHU stated "Jeremy

is taking actively to his blog this semester."

It may appear that blogging is tough at first, once you have learned how to do it, it gets

much easier. First year students seem to become easily frustrated when beginning to learn

how to blog. If I can give any advice, it would be to keep at it, do not give up, and try.

One will never know their capabilities if they do not try.