Category Archives: blogging

End of Summer Round-Up: Public E-Space

Well, I suppose I didn’t exactly accomplish every damn thing I thought I’d get to this summer. I did get an opportunity to blog a bit more, and this turned out to be important. Here’s why:

I needed space to articulate a few things, about what I’m doing in e-space, whether it’s still important for me to be in e-space. The answer is yes. I see a lot of folks painfully self-conscious of their presence in public spaces, and as I say a lot, to seek and find publication is to be public. So then, how to conduct ourselves in public? I found these blog posts/articles, “Your Blog is the Engine of Community,” and “Your Words Are Wasted,” by Scott Hanselman, and these have definitely made me think. What do I need to be accomplishing in e-space? Why bother?

[Image source: soulati.com]

Well, I don’t know that a blog post is forever, but I do agree that blog posts can have weight, longevity, and continued relevance. Let this space be a chronicle of my work and ideas, the way authors have kept diaries, journals, and log books. If others find use and value in these chronicles, then that’s great. If not, they have use and value to me.

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Safe Space: In Response to Rachelle Cruz 2

Picking up where I left off on yesterday’s post and comments.

Rachelle asks about the notion of “safe space,” and how it is proliferated in creative writing workshop. She asks how I conduct workshop, whether I use the term, which I do not. I do use the term, “professionalism,” in which criticism is not leveled as personal attack, or with mean-spirited intentions, regardless of differing belief systems, life experience, political values, and aesthetic preferences. When I say “professionalism,” on the first day of workshop, I see a lot of assenting nods, nods of recognition. Yes, in practicing becoming professional writers, we acknowledge there are proper codes of conduct.

Out of curiosity, I googled “safe space,” and the results are as follows — shelters for survivors of abuse, or community organizations serving and advocating for LGBT youth, especially those who have suffered and endured bullying. I absolutely agree that these safe spaces, social services, political and public health advocacy are necessary for survival. I understand the value of encouraging writing here, its importance in empowering communities so silenced, folks who must tell their own stories so that they do not disappear, cease to exist, continue to be buried, bullied, ravaged.

It’s true. Everybody can write. Everybody has a voice.

But I am talking about professional writers, and those who aspire to become professional writers — this is a different community, where certainly there are overlaps in its population and value systems. The difference is that in professional writers’ communities, pushing and hard criticism are necessary in order to complete and polish the work in preparation for publication. I believe pushing and asking hard questions do not equal personal attack or mean-spirited negativity.

Of course, personal attack and mean-spirited negativity have always been rampant in e-world. When so many more of us used to blog regularly, “Anonymous,” and other people not using their real names/identities would drop the meanest, most hate-filled, even violent comments in our comment sections. “Anonymous” was really brave, and would fill up our e-spaces with rant, most of which was unfocused nonsense. On my own blog, I deleted these comments. There was no good reason to keep them. This is not censorship. This is my space; no one is preventing anyone from ranting in their own spaces.

But the violence, racism, and misogyny in those comments were truly so alarming that a lot of bloggers retreated, blogged only about benign non-issues, became reticent to state any of their own opinions, changed their settings to “private,” or stopped blogging altogether. Bloggers migrated to Facebook and posted personal content for friends only. Safe space. Any of us who continued being outspoken were policed, not by “Anonymous,” but by our own. Safe space.

The hate-mongering, violence-mongering, racist, misogynist “Anonymous” won.

I think it’s fair to ask, what do we do about this? What is important here?

For me, it’s not to give in to external and internal intimidation and bullying.

My writing would be compromised.

My soul would hate it and hate me.

And it would be a total disrespect to all of our literary forefathers and foremothers (see Audre Lorde, above) who really, truly suffered and fought so that we could go to school, write our own stories and see them published, read, and taught to the next generations, to have a voice.

My Social Network: In Response to Rachelle Cruz

“If literary culture is a school, serious criticism can be found in the classroom. Social networks are the cafeteria — what you find there will be loud and gossipy, amusing but not very satisfying.” – Roxane Gay at salon.com.

I cite Roxane Gay in response to Rachelle Cruz’s recent blog post “On ‘Liking’ and Being ‘Liked’,” in which Rachelle asks a lot of great questions:

In the effort to build communities online and in-person, especially for writers-of-color, does “niceness” and enthusiasm restrict our ability to give honest feedback or write critical reviews of each other’s work (which is important!)? Amidst the kumbaya-ing, do we begin to care more about “safe spaces” than the writing itself? After fostering a “safe” community (and I put safe in quotes because I think that nowhere is a safe space for writing), where do we go from there? Lastly, if we do practice critical reading and writing of each other’s work, are we afraid of airing our “dirty laundry” for the public to see?

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Poetry Body Map Influence Community

Blame this one on Rashaan Alexis Meneses and Rachelle Cruz, for introducing me to the idea of “mapping” and “circles of influence.” I thought I would try it too, to see how I’ve grown, and who’s contributed to this, who’s influenced me. Whom have I read, who were my teachers, with whom have I had substantial poetic and academic exchange. And now, who and what are interesting to me, as an editor, educator, as a poet trying to continue growing, producing, and publishing, and with strong consideration to community building (i.e. not lip service, but actual practice). I see now, these days, I have expanded my interested in orgs, to now include the kinds of communities formed via indie publishing, an expansion of my interest in Maganda and KSW back in the day.

Certainly, this “map” is by no means complete; I can barely remember folks from college, and I’ve also just pooped out. Also, to come close to “accurate,” I would have to have multicolored, hand drawn lines and arrows of relation from name to name to org to venue. So anyway, thanks Rachelle and Rashaan. This was helpful in my figuring out where I fit in stuff:

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In Response to Sunny Vergara: Thoughts on Blogging, Engagement (and Google Plus)

Sunny Vergara has a great post over at The Wily Filipino, on blogging. I am experiencing a bit of nostalgia over his post, what it once was like in a space that I now complain daily is rife with noise, clutter, thoughtlessness and insincerity.

Back in the Day

So we are blogging about blogging again, and about social networks. Indeed, back in the day, blogging was a less self-conscious endeavor, and the blog was that space to report our mundane and routine, and it was also the means by which we got to know other writers. Friendships and collaborations began in blog world, folks were or seemed sincerely interested in what was going on in one another’s lives.

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My Social Network: Gettin’ E-Life Organized

First thing: I’ve started an “official” author page on FB. Please “Like” that page if you want to keep up with me on FB re: lit, arts, culture, and community issues.

Question: do you “friend” writers and artists you don’t know personally, because you want to know what they’re up to, or because you want them to know what you’re up to? I have too many “friends” on Facebook, a small number of them I actually know, and while I know it’s considered a FB no-no to “friend” people I do not know personally, I’d been advised that as an author, for publicity’s sake, accepting their friend requests is the right thing to do. Now, truthfully, many of their FB status updates don’t really mean much to me.

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Po-Biz: The Hustle and News

I will be teaching poetry workshop this coming Thursday at UC Berkeley, for Maganda magazine. Info is here. This is such a last minute thing; I didn’t find out until yesterday evening exactly where on campus workshop would be held, or whether I’d have a co-facilitator. You should drop by, yeah, to liven up the poetics discussion.

On the social network: for a while now there has been a Barbara Jane Reyes Facebook page, which who knows how that happened. It’s always bugged me that I had no control over it. So now I am officially on Facebook. And Diwata is officially on Facebook (please “like” me and Diwata; see, I couldn’t bear not being liked). It’s a strange place there; wasn’t I recently writing about the “interior,” and all kinds of weird social rituals of avoidance and elliptical behaviors. Seriously though, I’ve been following Jane Friedman on Twitter, and in her always insightful “social media” posts, she’s discussed FB as a “living room,” and a space to mobilize and spread word. Oscar also recently pointed to another article discussing FB not as a destination, but as yet another hub, directing traffic this way. One thing I am realizing is that regardless of where I place myself in the social network, the same people will engage in open dialogue with me, and the same people will lurk. But as Oscar says (and he is the optimist in our family), maybe some of the lurkers will be brave and “like” a thing I post. Maybe a former lurker, who’s now become a liker, will eventually get to conversing with me.

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Blogging is Gettin’ Old in the New Year

Actually, being social online is feeling like it’s getting old. I’m altogether bored, or unimpressed, or disappointed with what I get when online. Earlier this afternoon I told Oscar I feel like I am done blogging. I am constantly repeating myself, writing about the same issues of Process, Community, Publishing, and the MFA Industrial Complex.

I don’t feel like interesting, engaging exchanges, dissent, and debate are happening about literature, about activism, about cultivating community. I realize I am also to blame for the lack of dialogue; I’ve been told by colleagues that when I write, I don’t leave a lot of room for others to enter a conversation. I get this about me; I don’t banter and I don’t like coy. I’m interested in work and not people’s personalities and drama.

I realize I don’t blog the personal life minutiae to which readers seem to respond with gusto. I realize I also do not blog like many do about the perceived woeful states of their literary careers, to which folks also respond with gusto. So that’s that. Who knows what will happen to this blog in 2011.

I do know that as ever, I will continue to work at this poetry thing in the new year. I will work on these next two half-complete manuscripts. I will query publishers about an anthology project. I will be teaching mythopoetics as the core of my curriculum at SF School for the Arts, where I start my artist residency next week. I will continue co-curating the PAWA reading series and Doveglion online. I know I’ll be speaking on a panel at AWP and participating at an offsite event, as well as book signing Diwata at the BOA Editions table. I also know a few readings and poetry workshops are in the works.

So I guess the moral of the story is less virtual, more actual.

Blogging Ain’t Dead

Just like Poetry ain’t dead, though folks are constantly ringing the death knell — for Poetry and for Blogging. I would be remiss if I did not call your attention to some folks who really do generate thoughtful and critical content. First, let me point to an interview with Guy LeCharles Gonzalez over at Book View Cafe Blog:

Sue: [...] Considering Internet usage and the new opportunities it brings us, I get the feeling there are two Internets: one for consumers and what they consume; and one for the producers of what the consumers consume. I also get the feeling that contrary to what the Internet philosophers have been telling us, all people do not use both of these Internets. We were all supposed to participate in the great creative orgy, but I don’t think that’s happening. I think most people would rather consume than produce. Do you agree?

Guy: You’re absolutely right.

GROUNDSWELL, one of the better books on marketing in the digital age, introduced the “Social Technographics Ladder” a few years back that broke down how people use the Internet into overlapping categories, including Joiners, Spectators, Critics and Creators. The last update back in January, which added Conversationalists to the mix, estimated Creators at 24% while Spectators were 70%.

Creators includes “traditional” bloggers along with people who make and upload their own music and videos, and while a little higher than I’d guess, it doesn’t feel WAY off.

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Writer E-Presence

What does it mean to have an effective writer e-presence? This is one thing I’m constantly thinking on, and then this weekend, Lisa Hsia, one of the participants of Anthem Salgado‘s “Art of Hustle” wrote this in her PAWA blog post: “How can I consolidate my scattershot online presence into something coherent that has a following?” I was really glad to read this, and of course, her entire post. She also wrote, “it’s only recently hit me that if I don’t pare away the inessentials and focus on the core of what I’m doing, I risk mediocrity at everything.” And this is great, and totally worth another separate blog post. Sounds like Anthem’s workshop is a necessary eye opener.

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