Thoughts of a Cynical Bastard

Advice to Young SHU Bloggers

Do. or do not. There is no try - Yoda

Famous words by an old Jedi. Good words too.

To all of you who are new to the Seton Hill Unviserity blogsophere I bid thee welcome. As it was said in The Divine Comedies, "Enter of thine own free will."

Of course, I am not mean, I am not the El Diablo (though some people think I am.) I am a simple second semester freshman, I once struggled through three and a half months like you soon will. SHU is a wonderful place, and you will grow by leaps and bounds.

I am here, today June 06, 2005 at 08:00 to offer advice on your blog, and your first semester at SHU.

Right. Let's get right in on the advice and action.

Blogs or What's This Funny Thing I'm Reading on My Computer Screen?

Rule 1: Do NOT post anything disrespecting the Republican party, people DO take offense to it.

Rule 2: Replace Republican party with Catholic church

Rule 3: Do not use annoying colours in your blogs. Make it so people can read it. Trust me on this, your blog can be searched on Google.

SideNote: Type in your name on Google, you'll find that if you have a SHU blog, that will come up first, followed by any comments you made on other people's blog, cool huh?

Rule 4: Post things that relate to school 95% of the time, the other 5% do what you want with. You'll find that more people comment on your unschool related topics though, unless its for a class.

Rule 5: Rule 4 doesn't mean whine about your professor of this or that class, or that you have a ten million word paper due tomorrow and you'll have two words--your first and last name--down on paper. For literature, write about a book you've read for class, or on one of the topics you've discussed. You'll find that you'll get more comments about an interesting point of view, rather than "Dr. Jerz is a meanie head! He did this in class, and he made monkey noises the entire time! I didn't learn a thing! Boo-Hoo! Woes is me!" That's what livejournal or deadjournal or xanga is for.

ll add my own spin to Lou's pointers... if you do choose to post personal information, be prepared to get comments from people who might agree, or might disagree, with the opinions you voice. Dealing with objections, both from sensible people and nutjobs, is an important part of becoming an experienced writer (and thinker).

So, rather than tell students not to post anything personal, I'd rather say that if you make an unsupported claim, an overgeneralization, or make a factual error, someone's going to call you on it.

I think that's one of the best things about the blogosphere, but it does take some getting used to.

Which brings me to...

Rule 6: NEVER POST YOUR LIVEJOURNAL WEBADDRESS IN YOUR SHU BLOG! PEOPLE, INCLUDING YOUR PROFESSORS WILL READ IT! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!

RuLe 6-b: NeVeR pOsT lIkE tHiS! It's annoying. also dont overuse bold, italics, or anything else.

Note: I did it to prove a point--DONT DO IT! I will comment on it if I see it, and yes, people from outside of SHU WILL read your blogs. If you have further questions on that, ask Dr. Dennis Jerz.

Rule 7: Trust me using other sites as sources to your point is a good thing.

Rule 8: Sparknotes is NOT your friend--even in blogs. It's good as a source if you haven't read the book, or have read the book but need to know what it's basically about, but do NOT use Sparknotes to discuss something. You will just be severly laughed at. Especially by me.

Rule 9: Read other peoples blogs. Here a few good ones to use, because mine isn't the only one out there: http://blogs.setonhill.edu/ChristopherUlicne/, http://blogs.setonhill.edu/LeslieRodriguez/, http://blogs.setonhill.edu/MoiraRichardson/, I read these ones on a regular basis

Rule 10: BE YOURSELF! BE YOURSELF! BE YOURSELF! I can NOT stress that enough. Each writer, whether fiction or non-fiction, news articles or short stories, have their own voices. Let yours shine through in your blog. Do not be afraid to post your own works of fiction, or a "serious" academic article on your favorite show (like Leslie did with Buffy and Arthur Miller). YOURSELF BE, young Jedi, far you will go. hmmm..yes.

On a side note, I have posted other things on my blog that are interesting, and that's ok. Don't let school work bog you down, take time out to let the child within have some fun. Even the great and all power Dr. Jerz does it. I did with this blog entry didn't I? See, even being informational can be funny!

SHU, or Your First Steps at Seton Hill University

Rule 1: It's not High School kiddies! Do not learn this the hard way.

Rule 2: Eat at Griffin's Cove when you can--its AWSOME.

Rule 3: Do not come into EVERY Class and say that you didnt get your work done. Just admit it, though, you didn't get it done. Some professors are fairly lenient and will allow an extension, others can be cruel and not allow an extension. It all depends on the mood the professor is in.

Rule 4: Do not allow your cell phone, your page, your laptop or anything rule your life. However...

Rule 5: Use laptop when you can. Buy a stapler and 3-hole puncher, as your professors do not provide those.

Note From Dr. Jerz:

I don't often see students taking notes on laptops, but I personally wouldn't have a problem with it. (Some in-class writing assignments I'd ask you to put your laptop away, so you can't check the Internet during a quiz or something, or when a fellow student is leading a discussion.)

I can list a 10,000,000,000,000,000,001 other things on both rules list, but those 10 and 5 are all you really need to know for right now. The rest you'll find out on your own young Jedi. Let the farce be with you, and use the schwartz Luke!

One last thing, thank you to Dr. Jerz for pointing that out in the comments section. Those notes, I felt needed to be added so that people can read them as apart of the actual presentation.

Ciao!

Lou out!

Posted by lougagliardi at June 5, 2005 09:37 PM | TrackBack