reputation
Just stumbled, via Josh Corey's blog, across Timothy Burke's response to this odious article from a professor who, in my opinion, seems to get a sadistic kick out of deliberately seeking out material on the blogs of job candidates in order to disqualify those candidates.
I thought Timothy's response was, on the whole great, but the following comment bothered me a bit:
I think a blog is in the public sphere, and I think as a contribution to the public sphere, it should be selective. Not because you’re thinking about your potential employers, but because you’re thinking about what does and does not belong in the public sphere. I think reputation, the creation of an externalized self who “speaks”, ought to be an important part of blogging.
A personal diary, Timothy goes on to say, is precisely what doesn't belong in the public sphere.
I'm not sure how best to get at what bothers me about this. On the one hand, I can see his point from this angle: if one wants to consciously craft a public persona that's concerned solely with certain topics, then one probably shouldn't blog about personal things under the name of that public persona.
What gets to me, I suppose, is that he places such importance on managing a reputation in the first place. Or, rather, if reputation is given, then the notion that it must carefully cultivated to include just the right components, that anything else might cloud it. I suppose I live in a fantasy world where one's reputation is determined by the quality of one's work. Or, in the personal realm, by something like the quality of relationships that one cultivates.
The dirty laundry that gets aired on blogs -- and God knows I've aired enough to keep a laundromat running 24/7 for weeks on end -- shouldn't have anything to do with it. So what if person x can't stand person y and get kicks by moonlighting as a stripper? The real question, professionally speaking, should be -- does this person produce good work? Personally, it should be -- is this a person capable of cultivating long-lasting and meaningful friendships/relationships? Why on earth would anything else matter to anyone at all?
The sad truth, of course, is that it does matter. A lot. Probably even moreso, in some cases, than quality of work, etc. So I really can't blame Timothy for the position he takes. It's realistic. I just wish he'd seemed at least a little more ticked off about it than he does.
But I'm also grateful for this discussion. It makes me realize that if I ever hope to have, say, at least a part-time job teaching something like writing at some college somewhere, then I'd clearly better start giving more careful consideration to what I say in this space. How to do that without losing authenticity? I don't know . . .
The irony, it seems to me, is that, within any given socio-economic strata, our dirty laundry looks pretty much the same. Of course I'm just guessing on that one. Maybe I really am the only would-be poet in the world who suffers from panic attacks, did a few stupid things in college that he regrets, still has some childhood traumas to work through, and thinks the Bush administration doesn't have America's best interests at heart.
Oops. I sure hope no one heard me say that . . .
3 Comments:
I don't think you should worry about it too much. One of the things that came out of the exchanges I read about this was that (1) people who spend a lot of time trying to figure out who YOU are on the basis of your blog are creepy anyway and you don't want to work with them and (2) those who have a sane approach to what can be learned about someone by their blog (for example, if it is a very personal blog or post then just leave it on the side like you leave the memory of someone's behavior one particular night at the bar on the side) will use it sanely and you will then find that the blog helps people you find interesting to find you interesting, etc.
That's why honesty will remain the best policy. You will lose readers if you start using your blog strategically to bolster one or another public persona. I don't mean "lose" in a quantitative sense (you may increase your readership) but the people you liked having around will start trying to get a hold you by other means. People you haven't yet met, you never will.
So just keep doing what you're doing. Blog about things that interest you. I think the future is on bloggings side there. Tribble just has to get used to it, and relax a bit.
Lasttly, on the point of Timothy's you quote, I agree with you. It's a bit like whether or not you should walk around naked in your living room, and what the best policy on your curtains should be.
Part of the discussion seemed to suggest that when you are looking for a job its best to keep your curtains closed. That just strikes me a silly. But I haven't really thought this analogy through yet.
Good topic to take up. I'm grateful too.
I read that article too. My blog has felt confessional...in an artistic sense...confessions of not understanding what I have been taught to accept without question, and, sometimes, confessions of not understanding how to question what I have been taught to question. I'm not sure how to gauge it. The blog has been fruitful for me in what feels a specific way. But, as one of Burke's commenters mentions, academia can be a bit of a panopticon. I find it a tad frightening to think about aesthetic experiences and ideas somehow belonging to an institution. But I suppose it is part of what is "bought," so to speak, if you are being paid for your reputation, work, expertise in poetry.
Very interesting discussion on a subject I do consider often when posting. But then, I feel that I give away so much of my true self in my other writing that there's no point of withholding on the blog. And if blogging is a new art form (is it? I don't know, but it feels like one to me) it's not worth anything if it's not honest.
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