Rolling balls

So, two things have happened to lift my spirits today. First, I actually started writing something about my domestic situation, started teasing out ideas and relating them to questions that came up in the classroom last year. Feeling some momentum, I decided to put both my bloggy and non-bloggy writing projects on the same track and, to keep the ball rolling, to move my self-imposed deadline forward, to this Saturday. I'll be theorising some more about my life as a housewife/homemaker/domestic engineer (whatever you choose to call it).

The second thing that happened was that I received an awesome comment from Minerva (see the comments from the previous post). Not only did this inspire me to pursue this subject further, it also confirmed a lot of the theory I was playing with in my MA dissertation. There, I argued that part of what constituted the value and opportunity of blogs/blogging for feminists was the way comments and hyperlinks worked to make blogs active, activist, and collaborative texts. Comments and links within the texts allow blogs to manifest their collaborations far more explicitly than do traditional methods of publishing. In my experience as a student, and as a professional, I have always felt an underlying pressure to claim ownership of my work. Where that work is writing, words and ideas are its currency. This onus on individual accomplishment (of which the doctoral thesis is an excellent example) discourages and often devalues collaborative work. Not only do comments and links make blogs more collaborative texts, they also extend the blogger's network, vital for feminists in terms of creating connections and promoting activism. Minerva's comment offered support and food for thought with regards to my current situation, whilst also reviving my passion for blogging and blog-theory. Thank you!