Course Blog #10: Jess Responds to Derek's Blog

Derek is a careful, thoughtful writer, which doesn't surprise me, given what I know about his background. He's got a good grounding in the mechanics of writing and literature, which informs his views on what he experiences in this class. I think sharing a class with students in other programs is an invaluable experience, and one that Derek has already gotten benefit from, as he's described in his blog.

What seems to be driving Derek's line of questioning is, as best I can tell, coming from a place of duality. On the one hand, he seems to be intent on understanding what he is experiencing from an emotional standpoint, but on the other, he is relentless in interrogating these experiences from an intellectual or theoretical standpoint. It's an archive of a direct thought process, especially in entries like his ruminations on To Kill A Mockingbird. I can see him thinking through the steps, short sentences making quick work of complicated ideas like deindividuation. It's fascinating to see such clarity and translucency in writing. I can also see how hard he is working to understand and metabolize the materials we've been assigned. 

His blog, to me, seems to be also an archive of his foray into this branch of scholarship, as blended with his everyday life. I think Derek will be well-served by this linking of the readings to the realities of life, as lived. I haven't seen him enter into a conversation with the world at large, however. I'm not sure that the blog format really invites that, but his writings seem to be very personal, focused on his own growth and comprehension of the readings.  There isn't a real cohesion to his blog, but I don't think that's quite necessary. His experiences of performances are varied, so it would make sense that his approaches would vary, within a certain framework. 

In terms of "scriptive things", things that leap out and demand interrogation, it seems like American culture is at the heart of his inquiry. Trying to make meaning out of American culture seems to be the point that Derek returns to time and again, which I think is quite valuable, considering what I know of his research. I'm interested to see where he goes with these ideas, and how he'll use them in future work.