I'm Back.

Well I back at home permanently after being at school in Columbia, Missouri for the past five years. Someone told me that I'm in transition. I don't know why, but I really like that phrase. "Transition". Anyway, I'm glad that I decided to come back because it looks like they were gonna close my blog on Monday. Can you believe that? They could have sent me a warning email or something, but I guess the blog president was like "You started it, you need to keep it up!"

So the plan was to blog everyday. Man, that seems like such a commitment. But what else do I have to do everyday, right? I need a plan. I think I will begin to focus the blog on people that I meet and already know (because relationship are important), lessons learned in college, and goals (long term and immediate). Sounds like a plan.

Well tomorrow I have to wake up early to participate in the Susan G. Coleman walk downtown. I'm excited! I'm glad that I can walk in support of my Auntie Annette who is a breast cancer survivor.

What else can I say, but I'm glad to be back. Thank you to Dr. Strickland once again, an unforgetable professor.

Reflections

As I sit and ponder, I can't help but think about Edgar Allen Poe, just kidding. I'm really going to miss being in this writing class. We have learned so much over the past semester. I have had close friends and family members express to me various emotions about this class. Most people were suprised, and others were jealous about the course work and material. I feel like I lucked up! Not only did we learn about the blogsphere through the various readings and presentations, but we created our own blogs and wikis too.
Who can say that they have experience with web 2.0? The skills that we learned can be added to all of our resumes and experiences, which is such a bonus. Thank you again Dr. Strickland for everything that you have taught us, and for being so patient during the learning process. I think that having a patient teacher really makes a difference, because I can't say that about a lot of teachers and professors.
I am not going to stop posting on my blog and reading other people's blogs. I am not going to stop working on my wiki which is something that I am very proud of. One of my friends recently asked me if my wiki shows up when I search for similar topics on the internet. I'm not certain about that, but I hope so.
I know that I didn't post on my blog every single day, but I do see the benefit of it. It would be just like me to start blogging everyday after I don't have to do it anymore. I hope more people learn the benefit of social networking, so that we can make the world smaller!

Black Women Writers

As our class comes to an end, my final projet is being introduced to the world. I have had such a great time in this class over the past semester. I had a few difficulities choosing a final topic, but I decided to use another english class as the framework. My wiki, blackwomenwriters.pbwiki.com, is still under construction but I am satisfied with where it is now.

My hardest moment in developing the wiki was when I wasn't sure about the design. Everytime I tried to change the layout it always went back to what it was before. Obviously this became frustrating, but when I presented the wiki to the class the first time I got positive feedback. Evereyone said that it was coming along good, so I got over the design and focused more on the content.

I had to make some tough decisions about the wiki while I was uploading information. I wanted to include all black female writers, but there was one problem. I had to consider the fact that slaves were not given the opportunity to read and write, so this would exclude a lot of important black female orators and rhetoricians. Since, the wiki is called black women writers, I made the executive decision to make only include women writers.

I had a lot of fun making this wiki. While researching these women, I found out some interesting things that I didn't know. I found this picture of Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, who was the wife of the famous Paul Lawerence Dunbar. I had no idea that Paul Dunbar was married. I also found out that Countee Cullen was a man. I was about to make a list of his works when I read his biography and saw his pictures. I was so suprised! Finding out information about some women that I admire has been interesting and fun.

Although this class is now over, I feel like my wiki is just jumping off! I look forward to finding more information to post, and developing a group of readers. I also appreciate all of the information that we gained in this class. I remember when half of us didn't know what web 2.0 was and now we all have our own blogs and wikis. To view my final project visit:

blackwomenwriters.pbwiki.com

Update on my Wiki

Today I researched for my wiki some more. Some women that I included on the wiki in the beginning were Sojourner Truth, Maria Stewart, and Harriet Tubman. It was nice to research the women but in actuality, they were not actually writers. They both did important things in African-American history, but I could not find written works that they did.

One spiritual that was used by Harriet Tubman was a folk songs that she used to inform slaves of their routes for escaping. It was called "Wade in nuh Watuh Childun". Although it has been documented that she used folk songs like this, she didn't create them.

Sojourner Truth gave an important "speech" that infamous day in Akron, Ohio, but she did that as an orator and rhetorician and not as a writer.

I don't think I will use orators like Tubman and Stewart because it would be too difficult, since they weren't considered writers. There are many other women out there that are writers, so I will only focus on them.

Pretty Wiki

I figured out how to insert a link into a group of words on my wiki, and I like it so much. I will use this to insert links to the various author's biographies. Now that I can do this, I don't have to stress about the wiki not having biographies. Even though I didn't write them myself, at least they are all there in one place.

My goal was to make the wiki appealling to the eye, and since I can't have the template that I want I will play around with the colors. I think that the wiki will remain neat and appeallingthrough all of these changes. My wiki is really coming together nicely.

Love and Loss

Today I can't seem to push away all of the thoughts that linger in my head about some of the people in my life. I feel like I can't trust anybody. When I don't express these feelings with anyone they just build up inside of me. I feel like I don't have anyone close to me in my life.



I mean I have friends and I have family, but I just don't have deep feelings for anyone anymore. Its like the more I trust people the more I get hurt. The deeper I push myself into relationships of any kind, the deeper I get my feelings hurt.



I don't want to hurt anymore. I don't want to be unhappy.



I love myself so much. I care about me, so why doesn't anybody else?



How can you come inside of my life just to leave?



I want everybody that has ever hurt me to know that I hurt, too. I wish I could be like Alicia Keys' song "Superwoman" all of the time, but I can't. Its like I try. I try really hard, but its never good enough. I just don't know what to do. I'm crying right now.



All of this love is sitting inside of me and it can't wait to get out. I feel this really strong feeling, but I don't know if it is love or pain, because I have both of them.



God help me.

Now you see it, now you don't

Adding all of these women to my wiki is becoming more straining than I thought it would. I can't just take a woman's name and add it. I have to research them to see if the names that I find fit my category. They aren't always a woman just because they have feminine names, and they are always writers just because they have one or two printed works. Sometimes the written works are speeches or someone elses writings about them.

I wonder if anyone else is having the same problems that I am. The process is quite fun and educational but it takes a lot of time. Yesterday, my mom asked me how my classes are coming and I told her about the wiki that I am creating. She became very excited about it, but I won't let her look at it yet. "In due time", I told her. I don't think I will show the wiki off until I'm done with classes. That's fair right?