Meta Post

Looking back at my blog posts from the beginning of September, I have noticed lots of similarities but also lots of improvements. I have written almost a dozen blog posts since then, and every post I take a step toward being a better blogger.I took journalism for the last 2 years at New Trier, so when I started blogging I treated the posts as mini articles. I wasn't "joining the conversation" per say. My posts were generally just like news stories, meant to inform people of what is going on. The goal of this blog is to be able to join a conversation, whether it be something from class or an article read online. 

The first post that I had that really achieved this goal was the 9/11 Advertisements post. We had discussed the hot issue of whether or not these corporations should air these advertisements, and I was really interested in the topic, so I blogged. Although my post was extremely opinionated and wasn't really accepting of other opinions, it still joined in a conversation that we had in class and that other students posted about.

I've always been interested in astronomy and the present studies of what lies beyond our hemisphere. I decided to dedicate a couple of posts to this topic. Browsing through the science section of the New York Times, I found a couple of interesting articles that I could blog about. They were relevant ideas (i.e. Another Habitable Planet?), but I forgot to attempt to connect them to a present discussion. I stated some facts and what I felt about it, but I never mentioned what other people were saying about the discovery of another habitable planet. It was an interesting post both to write and learn about, but it didn't really fit into the requirements for a post.

My best post has to be my most recent one, To Consider a Gap Year. I am very interested in taking a gap year, and since college has become a bigger thought in all junior's minds, I thought it would be relevant to share my ideas. I looked online for any articles relating to gap years that I could connect it to, and luckily I found exactly what I was looking for. There was an article that talked about all of the things that I was talking about too, so I quoted it and shared my opinions. I feel that it was my best post because of the comparing of my own thoughts and that of the article. What I also find really promising is that my best post was my most recent. Hopefully I can continue improving throughout 2nd semester to craft more posts like the one I just mentioned.