Week 1 Blog 3: Twitter Gadget and more

I'm a really organized/disorganized person. To help my brain compartmentalize, I need to make some things smaller or I get overwhelmed and declare things "stupid" and don't give them a fair chance. Twitter is overwhelming to me (there I said it), and I'm also not really into being in front of people (literally or metaphorically). Who the hell cares what I think about _______________? Dan Ryder...I know you care, but you know me. It seems really public. This was confirmed when I made a Freaks and Geeks reference that was favorited (favorited is not a word is it Blogger) by a stranger. Not a person taking this class stranger, but a real stranger. That is a little uncomfortable for me.

Facebook lets me select who gets to see my posts (at least seemingly), and I like this. Blogger allows me to set my account to private and select my viewers. It actually doesn't matter, because even if it set to public (and it is) who is really going to read this blog except Dan Ryder and maybe people from our class? Twitter is different though. It feels super public. And the lack of letters allowed only makes it worse. There's just not enough room for me to explain myself, and I'm not particularly verbose. 

My first step in compartmentalizing was creating a gadget (blogger speak) or widget (twitterspeak) for my blog. I'm putting the steps below because I know I'll have to do this with my students if we try to do this Twitter thing (more on that later). I'm not sure if I'm sold on it, but it's been okay so far.

A quick google search (I'm really good at these when I truly want to know how to do something.) showed me how to do it. The link is here.

Adding a Twitterfeed to Blogger

So here's the thing about digital storytelling. When I think about it (usually), I think about the personal narrative that Jason Ohler gets at perfectly with his piece for Educational Leadership. He talks about making it "personal" while also striking a "universal chord." I think about This American Life, StoryCorps, the Moth, This I Believe, and, well, most things on NPR I guess. I like to write. I like long sentences and lots of pretty words with lovely imagery. The personal narrative that I truly enjoy makes me laugh, cry, and/or think. It makes me feel. This is what I ask my students to do with their writing. Write pieces that are both unique and universal. Write pieces that make readers feel.

The question for me is can this be done with Twitter? I'm sure it can. I was doubtful until I remembered that there is a Twitter Fiction Festival. What I've read has been good. There are some sock you in the stomach lines, and some places where I've laughed, but sometimes I feel as though I'm missing some depth. It's a bit like reading Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Good Squad (a great book by the way). The pieces make me feel like I'm missing the full story. I miss all of the characters (letters, words, and yeah, maybe people) that don't fit into the allotted spaces. With her book, it all made sense because she had space and words to manipulate. Twitter just doesn't make sense to me (yet).

I don't need to be cajoled or anything. It's good for me to use it. I'm really trying to comment and make sure this is real for me (not just a hoop), and do you know what? I'm already finding that it's not taking much "trying" anymore. It's kind of fun to check out what people are saying. Most of the time.