One More Referential Post

My third post on Masslive for this final week is going to be another referential post. But, it isn't an article I'll be refering to. I'm going to post a video I recently stumbled upon from www.ted.com, a really awesome website that has thousands of clips of talks and lectures by the most brilliant minds all around the world. It's like taking an intellectual bath when you browse that website. Anyway, I found a great video of the poet C.K. Williams reading his poetry to the TED crowd, and I thought it would be cool to post the video and blog about it.

Check out ted.com if you have the time, I guarantee you'll end up spending at least an hour watching these fascinating videos.

The Calm Before the Storm

I can't believe this is the last week of classes. I can't believe this is the last week I'll be stressing out about blogging!!! I'm honestly going to miss it; this class has, though I resisted almost every step of the way, taught me a lot about the online world of media and how blogging (a word I never wanted to use as a verb, ever) is a big part of it. I enjoy rambling about english and poetry and events that I go to and hear about around Amherst, and knowing that anyone out there on the web could stumble across my musings. It's fun.

I think, aside from my second project for Writing for the Web that I already have outlined, I'm going to post to Masslive about upcoming literary events in the Spring, and how it's fun and easy to attend them and make the most out of the literary scene here in Western Massachusetts. I think I can flesh that out a lot and make it into a decent article.

Aside from that, I'm just really trying to get through this second project. For some reason, it's more challenging to me than the others that we've been assigned. Maybe I'm just putting up mental blocks because of the whole video thing we have to incorporate. This is definitely the most high-tech thing I've ever done for school. We'll see how it turns out!

Masslive Masslive Masslive!!!

AHHHH!!!!! I never know what to write about for my Masslive posts. Ever. It's like, I have Thursdays where I go to meetings for English Society and then a reading, and that's it. This Thursday was Thanksgiving! I couldn't bear to step foot inside my high school after all that, so I didn't get the scoop on whether or not there even is a literary journal there anymore. I guess that's fine, since it didn't relate to my beat being in and around Amherst...

I'm thinking for this week's posts I'll put together an article that talks about why literary journals are important for the undergraduate community here at UMass. There are three that I know of: Ellipsis, which is a freshman literary journal run by students in Butterfield; Shortcuts, which is a journal composed of undergraduate short fiction; and of course, Jabberwocky, which is mostly poetry but some short fiction too.

I think I'll do another referential article as well, because those are kind of fun and I like researching my beat on the web.

Writer's Block

I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with another idea for my MassLive blog. There's a Visiting Writers reading next Thursday in Memorial Hall, which I will write about, but as of right now...I just don't know. Can I do another list? Is that okay? What would it even be on? I feel like I've hit a wall. Maybe I should have thought about it earlier, but I was so absorbed in my article on Charles Simic that I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I should have at the very least two MassLive posts by the time class starts tonight. Ahhh!

This is really just me brainstorming. What could be good enough to post on there that won't take a few days to research and complete? Since I have about an hour and a half at this point...

I was thinking of doing something humorous...maybe writing about how to not write a poem. But who am I to pass judgement that way? I don't think any of the poetry I write is good. I can't just go publish my amateur opinions on a blog that a lot of people in this community read. I'm quite stuck. Maybe I could do a post about my two favorite poets? Naruda and e.e. cummings. But I never quite know how to write about what I like about poetry. There are only so many adjectives you can use before you begin to sound trite.

Well...here it goes. I'll think of something...I hope.

Does a Top Three Work?

I've decided to post a top three list to Masslive on my three favorite reading venues in Amherst. I thought it'd be a fun idea, and relatively hassle-free seeing as I'm just talking about my own opinions. I've chosen Amherst Books, Amherst Cinema and Memorial Hall, which is on the UMass campus. It's definitely way more informal than my other Masslive articles, but since we've been discussing it so much in class I figured I'd just go for it and try the first-person, slightly less formal (in my mind) type of post. I don't know if top three is the best number for a list, since it's such a popular one, but beggers can't be choosers.

Happy Tuesday!