SIVACRACY.NET

Eric Jennings has some answers:

... Writing this blog has also helped me form my ideas better and just become a better writer in general. I know that I have a certain style - I use parenthesis probably way too much for example. But I'm not writing for publication when I do this blog. But to get back to what I wanted to say, writing has helped me understand how to write better. By continually interacting with the English language on an almost daily basis, I am not letting my understanding of the language languish. It has helped me get an article in the CSU magazine even so I must be doing something right.

When I think about it, there are a lot of good conversations that take place on this campus and others like it that do not see the light of day because they're between two people or a group. And that's fine. There is something to be said for an intellectual discussion between students, faculty and students, or faculty. The problem is is that most people are not carrying around video cameras to document these discussions. The written word, however you want to define written (pen & paper, book, journal, blog, etc.) allows those ideas and discussions to carry outside of the immediate sphere where they take place and influence and impact those elsewhere. So, in a way, I hope that I have influenced one person. I hope that I have planted a seed in the back of their mind about some topic that they might be thinking about. Or, maybe one that they haven't thought about and it puts it on their radar. At the very least, I hope that even if someone disagrees with what I say, they know that there is at least one differing opinion out there that they'll have to tackle with when they make their argument.

That's why I write. If you're a blogger out there who is reading this, why do you write? Do you write to change the world, espouse your opinion, decompress after a long day? I'dlike to find out. (Hmm ... this sounds like it might be a good research article. Dibs!)