Autobiographies:
Welcome
My name is Matt Bruflodt. I am a teacher of first-year college Composition and Argument and Exposition. I have adopted a pedagogy that is ideology-based and works from the students' experience outward. I have found that many students don't know what they think about many current issues like global warming or Occupy Wall Street, so I begin, in Composition, with things that they do know about: hunting, fishing, car repair, babysitting, etc. And from there we begin to establish as value system identifying what is and what isn't important to them and why, always working under the notion that a lack of an opinion = lack of experience. So we then strive to gain experience by actively pursuing topics they know nothing about, but in which they are interested in learning.In Argument and Exposition I take a step back, beginning with a broader look at arguments in the the world around us. I start with the premise that everything is an argument (the basis of my textbook Everything's an Argument by Andrea Lunsford), or, more specifically, every statement is imbued with some sort of ideology that always asking something of its reader/viewer. We discuss how to identify not only the argument, but also the ideology be hind it. From there the student is able to critique any argument, and subsequently make one of her own in response, because she is able to see different parts of the argument as statements articulating a particular world view.
Notes
Here, my tone is very formal and professional. It's a little showy, too, I think because I'm basically outlining my whole pedagogy, and that sort of gives this sense of desperation that you would get from the cover letter of a resume. Maybe not desperation so much, but a sense that I am asking something of my reader, even if it is as basic as please be impressed with me! My sentences are both simple and complex, active and declarative. Outside of my pedagogy, there is little information about myself--I was writing about myself as a teacher and in a way that necessarily translates to a discussion of pedagogy alone. Because what else am I going to say? I wear sweaters and tweed coats with leather elbow patches? I don't but you get my drift. This is a rejection of the personal for the professional.
¡Bienvenido!
I am a writer and sometimes traveler. I write many things: essay, fiction, and poetry. I am currently working on my thesis, which is a travel narrative of my time spent in South America. I have not yet figured out how to make a living as a writer, however, and I am beginning to believe that the existence of such occupations is a fiction.On the other hand, I have had a job that primarily involved writing. I worked for the Office of Communications and Marketing at Bemidji State University for several years, writing press releases to be sent to the hometown newspapers of students who had achieved something or another. The task was mind numbing. We were given a list of all the stories that had to go out--thousands and thousands--and you had to get them done within the academic year, because in the following year you received a new list.
This experience, though daunting, did teach me a very important thing about writing: writer's block is a myth. There are times when writing is easy and times when writing is hard. There are times when your writing is good and times when your writing is garbage. And garbage writing is better than no writing at all.
Notes
I approached this bio with a practical writer for hire type of goal. I relate my only experience writing for money. This is not bad--in relation to my goal of selling myself as a writer--because I have established the fact that I do write. And the fact I have little experience writing for money, only means that I am dedicated enough to do it without pay. My sentences are, for the most part, declarative. They are mostly simple but occasionally complex. I maintain an active voice, and occasionally address the reader directly.
- My name is Matt Bruflodt.
- I am a third year grad student at Bemidji State University.
- I will graduate in the spring with a Master of Arts in English, which is, as I'm sure you know, a very lucrative field with many wonderful job opportunities in both the traditional and nontraditional arenas. Whatever that means.
- Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do, so don't ask.
- As you probably guessed, I like to read books.
- I also like nature: trees, animals, nudists, dirt, etc.
- I have a fish. His name is Othello.
- I get very claustrophobic in crowds, but not tight spaces in general (now that I think of it, that might be a different phobia altogether).
- Once, when I was little, I hid from my mother and sister for several hours in a box filled with hats and mittens for no reason.
- I like writing things.
- I used to have a reoccurring nightmare about ET. All he did was sit there and look at me. It was terrifying.
- I like the idea of cities more than cities.
- I don't usually write in bullets, but this is the internet and I can do what I want.
- If I have to choose between crew neck and v-neck, I'll take v-neck every time.
- If you are still reading this and long to get closer to me on the internet, you weirdo, you can follow me on twitter or read my blog, which is boring but whatever it's your funeral, or if you're elderly you can email me (no chain mail about God or Obama, or I'll turn you in to the CIA for terrorism).
- Lastly, I hate writing about myself, so I'm gonna stop now. But so you don't go away empty handed, here's a gift from me to you.
Notes
Dr. Morgan: use this one for now.Well, to begin with, this is very informal. Silly, really. I like it, but then humor is often my default setting. Humor and absurdity. I boarder on insulting in places, which I'm ok with. I am, in a sense, making the argument that autobiographies in general are a load a BS. Or rather, that they are arbitrary and trivial. All of my sentences are active, declarative, and simple.
