Commonplaces
I ran across a link to Borderland last evening that prompted an idea for something I want to try here on this edge of the internet. I read through the Watsoncommon archives, and I found this post about commonplace books in which Christopher Watson explained the genesis of his blog. He mentioned that Bruce Schauble, (who also commented here recently) uses commonplace books to:
1. Copy out passages from readings which interest you or strike you as being noteworthy
2. Record other pieces of incoming data from the world at large: bits of conversation, turns of phrase, song lyrics
3. Make note of questions that occur during the course of the day
4. Write down brief ideas or reflections as they occur
5. Include visual data: pictures, charts, ads, drawings
The term commonplace book triggered a memory for me. I first saw the term on Chris Lott’s blog when I was enrolled in a course he taught. They are a literary form that has a long history and closely fits the definition of a weblog. Turns out Chris has a commonplace book online. There are a few other examples. I was too busy looking into other mysteries of the social web to give the idea much thought beyond a “hmmm” way back when…
As a result of participating in the read/write web, reading blogs and following links on my delicious network, I find myself wandering far from my academic comfort zone into unfamiliar intellectual territory. I’ve been reading about literary theory, epistemology, politics, and history - subjects in which I have little or no formal background. Often, I feel like I can’t comment coherently on those things without knowing a lot more than I do. But sometimes I simply want to remember something, or to make a brief note.
And why should I let incoherence stop me from keeping a record of these little side-trips? Bloggers and columnists do it every day on the internet. What’s wanted is a new category signifying random trivia that, for whatever reason, seemed worthy of my attention.
I think it’s funny that I had to “discover” this. Anyway, Commonplaces will serve as Borderland’s new annex. It’ll be the junk drawer in the kitchen, the attic storage, the bits and pieces department.
Bruce Schauble wrote,
After I responded to Doug’s post with an email, he wrote back and asked me this question. Here’s what he wrote, and my reply follows. Anyone else want to jump in?
DOUG: I believe that the success or failure of this idea rests on the quality of my judgment as to what I put there. This, of course, is true no matter what I write. But by posting content without comment - like the poem, The Country, by Billy Collins, for instance - because it made me laugh out loud - I run the risk of alienating readers who come to the blog to hear from ME.
Truly, this could be a separate blog. But I post the “thoughtful” stuff only a couple times a week at most, so I don’t think I run the risk of burning out the readership by overwhelming them with material they aren’t interested in.
As a writer, teacher, and recent correspondent of mine, do you have any thoughts on how well this might fly? Any pitfalls you envision? I think I’ll go ahead and post the Collins poem now to break the ice… I’m curious how it’s gonna work with what I’ve already got going.
BRUCE: I don’t think you need to worry about living up to the expectation that you will stand and deliver something in your own words each time you blog. People return to your site because they’re interested in what you have to say, but also because they are interested in how you think, what you notice, what has come to your attention. Chances are that if something has interested you - like the Collins poem - it’s going to interest a lot of us as well. And, as you indicate, there’s a regular flow of serious stuff as well. But I think there’s plenty of room in Borderland for the occasional tropical potted plant or polkadotted whoozits to make an appearance. Local Color of a different hue, if you will.
In summary, I’m all for it. I’m interested in what’s in your head, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in what’s in your attic.
Good luck with the new addition.
- Bruce
Link | January 6th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Doug wrote,
Bruce, as a remote catalyst for this new (what I now imagine to be) feature of the blog, I’m glad to get your input. I began writing here without plan or conscious purpose, and I’ve relied on intuition to guide what passes for an editorial policy, as opposed to any set of guidelines. I’d hate to have to define my selection criteria! Your comment, that what I notice may be as interesting as what I have to say, nicely summarizes the rationale. It may serve the same purpose for me, as well. I hope so, anyway.
Still, I am curious what readers have to say about me rearranging the furniture, and bringing in a few potted plants. (I like your analogy
Thanks.
Link | January 6th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Graham Wegner wrote,
Just because you add in a few poems that maybe I can’t really relate to, doesn’t mean I’ll be unsubscribing or feeling alienated. It’s no different to the idea of live blogging a conference where the blogger writes in a bunch of notes as the presentation unfolds - it’s purposeful for the writer and maybe someone who also attended the session or was hoping to, but anyone else can just skip it and wait for the next post that might be of interest. I’ll be honest - I’m not big on poetry ( but I find some song lyrics to contain poetic imagery) and what you choose may or may not mean anything to me but that’s my problem, not yours. It’s your blog and people read here because you are true to yourself and your own ideas, not writing to please any sort of potential audience. Another way of looking at it, if I added in lots of blog bling on TGZ (badges ;-0, pulsating graphics, Web 2 logos) would that alter your perception of what I write? The only negative I could imagine is someone new comes to your blog, sees your latest entry, groans, “Not another eclectic poetry blog!” and leaves. Well, if they don’t look a bit deeper, it’s their loss, not yours.
Link | January 7th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Sarah Puglisi wrote,
Without realizing whyjust rolling with my feelings as so much of the time I do, I just placed a book on my blog that you might like, and that connects to this so clearly to me. It truely was in my mind to just let you find it, but you appear to be riding that other wave. In her book Vecchione in such clear song talks of spirit and the voice found by a writer. Tho cryptic this post relates. Writers are methaphor makers. There is a really good book called The Clam Lake Papers I should take over to your new section, as I figure this out. That writer and yourself seem to truely share something.
Sarah
Link | January 7th, 2007 at 4:41 pm