Blogging. The English instructor tendencies of my cranium have been pondering these questions lately. What does it mean to writing, in general? Do we now forego the more graceful forms of poetry, short story, play, and letter to tap out blog whenever some idea passes over our cerebellum? Is it the easy way out? Doesn't it seem much easier to take some intriguing (or mundane) notion and write it straight out instead of crafting it in to something more challenging (and artful) like these other forms of the writing craft?

I think it makes me think of writing differently. Instead of writing, like I said, that poem, or what-have-you, I think of just blurting the ol' blog. Amira Baraka once said something like this – " I don't sit down and decide, oh, I am going to write a poem or a play, the idea indicates its own form." Well, now that blogging is a prevalent fashion, I think it is, at least for now, replacing some of those more traditional arts. It has now entered the popular consciousness as the dominant form of writing self-expression. It is now the ready alternative. Is this a bad thing? I suppose that communicating, self-expression, and relatively ready feedback, the idea of an instant, altho' mostly unknown, audience can be appealing and positive. But, what does this mean for literature and writing? Will students, in ten years, have to trudge to the campus bookstore to buy The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Blogging?

When was the last time you read a novel or a play? When was the last time you read a blog? When was the last time you wrote a poem or a short story? When was the last time you wrote a blog? And, yes, here it is - bloggistyle.