Introductions Are in Order
Hello Mr. Nobody! Since you are the only one who yet knows about this little atom of the internet universe, I'll go ahead and address my first post to you.
Mr. Nobody, I know you very well, but this is the first time we've met. My name is Matthew Goddard. I'm an English student at the University of Southern California, currently studying in Brighton, England at the University of Sussex. I also study art history and business. My interests are sufficiently broad that to list them seems a ludicrous undertaking, but here are just a few, which may or may not be the most significant: literature, music, film, art, philosophy, religion, politics, history, the world, people, life, the universe, everything, etc.
I've resisted every temptation to have a blog for some while, disdaining them as public diaries at best, vehicles of narcissism at worst, and quite often both at once. Of course, these days we all know the power they have when the characteristics leading to these characterizations are avoided. I've also overcome my Luddite tendencies and realized that blogs are a useful technology with a future, a bandwagon I should jump on before its pioneering days are over (wait, did I miss it already?).
I don't at all have a clear vision for this site. I expect I will write what I feel like for a while, and if this leads to more specific blogging on certain topics, all the better. My interests could use the benefit of a little focus. My own reasons for finally setting this thing up are mostly unknown to me, but I definitely don't want this to become a public diary, a place to put myself on display and hope someone looks. Some of the hopes I do have for this blog are as follows:
1. Being away from friends and family in England, I thought it might be nice to have a place where someone could go, if inclined, to see what's inclining me these days.
2. Being a student of literature, apparently one with an embryonic gift of writing, I thought it might be useful to have a place to write things besides academic papers and show them to people who have the desire to be shown them. These things might be fiction, nonfiction, my thoughts, blatant plagiarism of the thoughts of others, or whatever else I feel like sharing.
3. Being young, I feel myself changing rapidly. I am not the same person I was six months ago, and I have a suspicion that I wouldn't right now be able to recognize who I will be six months from now. So I thought it would be good to have a place to put down who I am now and tomorrow, and thus the person I will be the day after tomorrow will be able to see how he got from here to there. A record of myself without--hopefully--being a narrative of myself. Depending on the degree of dedication, this ambition may not be realized.
4. Being one with a somewhat anomalous combination of temperament, interests and ideals, I sometimes feel it hard to find those who share any one of those things, let alone all three. I hear there are a lot of people in this internet thing, and maybe mutually beneficial connections will be made. An idle hope, perhaps.
5. Being one with ideals and ideas that clash (or at least don't fit) with nearly everyone around me, I thought it would be good to have a place where I can set down what I think and why, both to help those who know me to understand, and to help myself clarify and develop my own ideas.
6. What finally gave me the motivation I needed to start this up was an e-mail from my father. He talked about the practice of a nationally-recognized pastor, writer and speaker named Gordon McDonald. Mr. McDonald had a journal he called his "seedbed." It was in this bed that he would plant the seeds of "thoughts, quotes, observations, stories" and whatever else struck him. I guess he did this so that these seeds would grow into something more substantial. So here's my seedbed. Soon I'll plant some seeds; what they might grow into, I'm not sure. We'll see I guess.
There are other reasons of a more personal nature, but I don't feel like writing them. After all, this isn't a diary. So thank you for reading, Mr. Nobody. I will now see if I can't find some readers to keep you company.
Mr. Nobody, I know you very well, but this is the first time we've met. My name is Matthew Goddard. I'm an English student at the University of Southern California, currently studying in Brighton, England at the University of Sussex. I also study art history and business. My interests are sufficiently broad that to list them seems a ludicrous undertaking, but here are just a few, which may or may not be the most significant: literature, music, film, art, philosophy, religion, politics, history, the world, people, life, the universe, everything, etc.
I've resisted every temptation to have a blog for some while, disdaining them as public diaries at best, vehicles of narcissism at worst, and quite often both at once. Of course, these days we all know the power they have when the characteristics leading to these characterizations are avoided. I've also overcome my Luddite tendencies and realized that blogs are a useful technology with a future, a bandwagon I should jump on before its pioneering days are over (wait, did I miss it already?).
I don't at all have a clear vision for this site. I expect I will write what I feel like for a while, and if this leads to more specific blogging on certain topics, all the better. My interests could use the benefit of a little focus. My own reasons for finally setting this thing up are mostly unknown to me, but I definitely don't want this to become a public diary, a place to put myself on display and hope someone looks. Some of the hopes I do have for this blog are as follows:
1. Being away from friends and family in England, I thought it might be nice to have a place where someone could go, if inclined, to see what's inclining me these days.
2. Being a student of literature, apparently one with an embryonic gift of writing, I thought it might be useful to have a place to write things besides academic papers and show them to people who have the desire to be shown them. These things might be fiction, nonfiction, my thoughts, blatant plagiarism of the thoughts of others, or whatever else I feel like sharing.
3. Being young, I feel myself changing rapidly. I am not the same person I was six months ago, and I have a suspicion that I wouldn't right now be able to recognize who I will be six months from now. So I thought it would be good to have a place to put down who I am now and tomorrow, and thus the person I will be the day after tomorrow will be able to see how he got from here to there. A record of myself without--hopefully--being a narrative of myself. Depending on the degree of dedication, this ambition may not be realized.
4. Being one with a somewhat anomalous combination of temperament, interests and ideals, I sometimes feel it hard to find those who share any one of those things, let alone all three. I hear there are a lot of people in this internet thing, and maybe mutually beneficial connections will be made. An idle hope, perhaps.
5. Being one with ideals and ideas that clash (or at least don't fit) with nearly everyone around me, I thought it would be good to have a place where I can set down what I think and why, both to help those who know me to understand, and to help myself clarify and develop my own ideas.
6. What finally gave me the motivation I needed to start this up was an e-mail from my father. He talked about the practice of a nationally-recognized pastor, writer and speaker named Gordon McDonald. Mr. McDonald had a journal he called his "seedbed." It was in this bed that he would plant the seeds of "thoughts, quotes, observations, stories" and whatever else struck him. I guess he did this so that these seeds would grow into something more substantial. So here's my seedbed. Soon I'll plant some seeds; what they might grow into, I'm not sure. We'll see I guess.
There are other reasons of a more personal nature, but I don't feel like writing them. After all, this isn't a diary. So thank you for reading, Mr. Nobody. I will now see if I can't find some readers to keep you company.
posted by Matthew at 1:57 AM
8 comments
