Blog 1

I am Katie McGuire and I write because I have to. I am from Omaha, NE and I am in the health care field. I hate English classes and dread them, even though they are often some of the most exciting courses, due to the discussions. I am the kind of writer who writes when they are told to do so. I do not voluntarily write. I am the kind of writer who has never thought of texting, tweeting, etc. as forms of writing. Now that I have opened my view of the writing world to those outlets, I now come to the conclusion that I am a writer who seeks attention. But doesn’t everybody? Why do you sent a tweet? Why do you send a text? To be noticed. I write to be noticed—but not too noticed. I’m the kind of writer who seeks to be agreed with. I write to be responded too, and never to be ignored. Unless, of course, you disagree with me. In that case, don’t read what I write. I am the kind of writer who doesn’t really care about writing. But, when I do write, I write to be sarcastic. To be funny. I write to get a smile out of you. I write to sound like I’m a good writer, when in reality, I am a writer who sucks at writing. I am Katie McGuire and I write because I have to.

Community is such a vague word. It’s a word that is not thought of deeply, yet used so often. Community is a sense of belonging. Being in a community is labeling yourself as having similarities with other people. From the reading, the idea of “discourse community” is important. A true sense of interaction and community is “replaced by a discursive ‘forum,’ and their one-to-one interaction is reduced to a system” (15). Communities these days are more labeling instead of face-to-face interactions with others.  In the reading, Harris explains that he belonged to a community “whose values and interests I could in part share but to some degree would always feel separate from”. He explains how he felt like he was in several communities, and yet “never wholly a member of one” (11). Within those two paragraphs, I found myself diving deeper into the true meaning of community. Community is feeling like you belong. Finding people that share similar values and interests is important in establishing different communities and putting yourself into a community. Even when you put yourself into one and label yourself as being part of a specific one, the sense of actual belonging isn’t fully fulfilled. Looking at myself, I am in plenty of communities. I label myself as a UNL Pre-Nursing student, an Omaha native, a Christian, a maturing woman, a daughter, and many more. I label myself a part of these communities because I share values and similarities with each group. But even when I share similarities with these groups and people, it doesn’t mean I feel a sense of belonging. I disagree with some people within those communities. People strive to belong, putting themselves in communities. Writing and language play a role in making them communities because they are the forums to which a community communicates. These days, there are clubs and websites where you can go in order to share your ideas and interests with others. Language encourages communication of ideas and topics.