Your Blog Bites!

Yeah, you heard me! Your blog bites! It's really quite sad that you've even attempted to write one. I'm actually planning to read it within the next hour or so because I've been having trouble falling asleep lately. My plan to remedy my insomnia? Your blog! It's just really bad, and that's all I should have to say. So, there you have it.

Oh, and by the way: can you be better? I just think that someone who writes as poorly as you do has such great room for improvement. You've got all this potential that you're wasting because you're not trying. I can see it in your eyes. I can smell it coming from the page. What, you ask? The lack of awesomeness. It pains me to know that you're not reaching for the stars. You're content to wallow in the muck and mire of your attempts to write.

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Don't worry, everyone! I wasn't talking to any of you, so you can move your cursor away from the "delete account" button. I'm sure my criticism had some of you on the verge of tears, and it's okay to cry sometimes, but—Okay, wow. Getting waaay off track. I promise to consider any criticism directed at my intro, sarcasm, etc.

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I actually did read a couple of blogs this week, and I think I see a little of my own experience and views on criticism coming through the writing of my classmates. In Jake's description of his two basketball coaches, I could see my own experiences with my high school baseball coaches, A— and L—. (Thanks, Mr. Poe, for giving us The Purloined Letter and your method of withholding names to make things seem more serious.) A—, much like Jake's Coach M, liked to get in your face and openly criticize you. He made cutting players a spectacle. I remember the team during my freshman year gradually being whittled down from an enthusiastic 19 to nervous 10. I was really hoping that A—'s plan wasn't to follow the example of Willie Wonka, cutting our numbers down further and further until he found his successor. *shiver!* His methods of criticism worked for a select few, for whom I think just about any form of criticism would have worked. His style was very much unlike L—'s method of criticism, which was much more constructive. L—, whom I mentioned in this previous post, was a really good coach for me, though not the best in terms of leading our team to success. His criticism didn't aim at embarrassing you into improvement but instead aimed at building you into a better person who would improve because he wanted to be the best he could be. Not to boast, but for the sake of showing how he in fact did this, L— once said that he wished he could have a team full of guys like me. Knowing he said that made every bit of criticism that came from his mouth more meaningful. This was someone trying to make me better, and I wanted to take his advice. I think most people have had an A— and L— in their life.

This connects to what I read in R—'s post, where she talks about three main points she considers before offering criticism: context, audience, and goal. I've never stopped to think about what I consider before criticizing, but those points really sum it up well! I feel like if I went into further detail, I'd just end up rehashing what R— has already described very well on her own blog, so I think it'd be best for you to read what she has to say. Thinking about whom you are giving criticism, in what situation, and for what purpose is a good practice to have because it makes you carefully chose your words so that they have the most positive impact. After considering these three points, you may even decide that your criticism isn't even necessary! I would add another perspective to this pre-criticism thinking, that of the one being criticized. Just as the one doling out criticism must consider context, audience, and goal, the one receiving criticism should consider the context, speaker, and his or her goal. I have to admit that I can be very defensive when being criticized. I need to resist the urge to release my ego's quills upon contact, and I think I've been better about that in recent years. (Feel free to let me know how I can improve. Yes, I just suggested you criticize how I take criticism.) When someone sits me down for "a talk," I need to think about why that is, who they are, and how I can be a good recipient. For instance, I knew this past Monday that Prof. Arvan was taking each of us aside to talk with us about our reflections. I wasn't in trouble. He wants me to improve my writing. He offered his criticism through conversation. Knowing all this, the meeting went well. If I had thought incorrectly about any of context, speaker, or goal, the meeting may have been less beneficial.

So I'm not the greatest (yet!) at receiving criticism, but am I any good at giving criticism? Maybe. I feel like it's not my place to gauge that. I never go in thinking, "Oh, boy! This is really going to be received totally differently from how I want it to be!" but sometimes that's what happens. I could afford to take the other person's perspective a bit more often. I mentioned last week how I'd really benefit from not assuming things so much. I think this feeds into my ineffective criticism. Sometimes, I consider motive, which I can't really do, and that gets me in trouble. Not to make myself sound like an awful critic, I think I can be very constructive when someone comes to me explicitly looking for something of theirs or about them to be critiqued. I occasionally read over skits and essays to offer improvement. Sometimes, I'm asked if I think such and such is a good idea. In those situations where I don't need to make the first move, I think I succeed. I certainly could improve how I initiate conversations where criticism is involved so that the results are better.

Good criticism can be difficult to recognize. In the end, the value of criticism is best measured retroactively. If the situation changes for the better, without anything changing for the worse, I think something must have gone well. At the time, it can be difficult to see if anything will really change as a result of criticism. We can recognize if a conversation is calm or if it's getting out of hand. We know how we feel immediately after having received or given criticism, but we don't know how or if another party or we will actually change. I'll have to sit Criticism down for a chat on how we can improve that.