Bruce Conforth

Back in September, when I was doing my self-description as a writer, I had to admit that my biggest trouble were academic papers where I had to manipulate scientific facts without embodying my sharp  voice as a writer. I firmly believed that putting a piece of my personality would inevitably lead to decrease in objectivity and get me in a big trouble. Luckily, I was wrong. Listening to Bruce Conforth talking about the growing importance of "creating culture" and stating reasons why a topic matters to an author in the academic writing, helped me realize that a good balance between my voice and pure facts would enrich my paper rather than destroy it to ashes. Conforth does an amazing job in stating his voice in the introduction of his book, so I caught myself thinking that I would love to read more, even though I was not invested into the topic in the first place. Conforth created a world that I would love to dive into, and it is really important for any writer, including myself, to follow this path.

Also, wow, I was so excited to hear him talking about Robert Johnson, one of the most mysterious figures in the blues music history. My grandfather, who used to play in the jazz band, always put on jazz and blues for me, and told me enthrilling stories about musicians, including the legend about Robert Johnson. It is so interesting how music relates people from different continents, creating a special world that everyone can find place in. Jazz and blues artists with their fascinating songs became my inspiration to join a jazz band myself when I was in 10th grade, and my love for blues has been only growing since then.

I also totally agree that the word "clear" is one of the worst words that one can use in writing. What can be clear in our world if we see things in an absolute different way, depending on our perspective? From the beginning of the course, I remember the quote that for someone a tree is a beautiful living thing, while for someone its just an obstacle on their way. Or it is probably "clear" for closed-minded people that the sky is blue. Well, look at the breathtaking paintings of the impressionists and you can see the sky is red, orange, black, whatever, not just blue. There will always be people who disagree with our opinions, so using the word clear is just..well, wrong, because there is nothing absolutely clear for us.

What I really loved about the author is him being respectful and friendly to the interviewer and the audience. I mean, he could be very arrogant because of all of his astounding accomplishments in the academic and music field, but he chose not to be, which really helped me to relate to his ideas about writing and accept them as a model for my future reference. I wish I could feel his energy in person, because he seems to be a very open-minded person with enormous positive energy, who gives 100% of himself to his work. And that is the way to be for me too, if I want to make my own "performances."

After listening to the professor talking about importance for students to write their our own story, I realized that this LHSP blog is a unique opportunity to write our stories. And I actually enjoy that, because here we can choose the subject, which we are passionate about, and relate it back to the topics discussed in class. I totally agree that our stories is what matters after we are gone, so we should do everything to make our story a fascinating intelligent novel rather than a thin shallow newspaper.