Finishing up Fun Home

28 March 2018: "Again, the troubling gap between word and meaning. My feeble language skills could not bear the weight of such a laden experience." --Alison Bechdel, Fun Home

We finished up our discussion of Fun Home in ENGL 360 today and, on this read-through, I found myself especially drawn the changes young Alison goes through as she writes in her journal, first inserting a the phrase "I think" in between every assertion and later writing only the barest facts or including insincere/faux-ironic statements. It's so sad to watch her run away from her voice.

In a much less dramatic sense, this section also makes me think about my writing, including this blog, which is a kind of journal (more than a diary), existing for me more than anything else while also being somewhat public. I think everyday about what to post, how open to be about certain thoughts and topics, and will often avoid a topic completely if I feel I can't be honest or open. There are ways that actually makes the writing better (I think). It's all pretty interesting, though perhaps I am not up to the challenge of being more eloquent about it at the end of a long day.

(I brought my blog up as an example in class, calling it my "stupid little blog," and one of my students affectionately but fiercely chided me for such a description saying that if I wrote it, then it was important and that I shouldn't call it "stupid and little." Sweet, right? Again, these kids are alright.)