At the beginning, there were no Real People Profiles, no participation from faculty and staff, and no long strings of comments from readers. The audience I imagined for my posts was limited to the 30-40 SGA members (SGA was a much smaller organization back then) not in the room with me at the moment. I wanted to share some of the stories and ideas from my one-to-one conversations with them. And I wanted to talk about my own vulnerabilities, and my own process of learning how to be an effective human being and citizen, to make it OK for students to experience their own imperfections and growth as something other than traumatic and isolating. The entire first semester, Co-Create UMBC attracted half the number of views it now gets in a week.
Much has changed. I'm more confident in my intuitions about how to say things. But in a way, I still I'm still discovering my voice and my purposes. I know I want to make UMBC visible to itself as a community co-created by all of its members. I want the people at UMBC to see and know each other as human beings, not merely as roles like "professor" and "student." And I still want to name my own struggles, past and present, when doing so can help set someone else free. My favorite moments as a blogger have been the ones when people have shared how they have become conscious of their thought patterns by identifying with mine, or able to name a hope or fear because I did so in a post. I'm grateful to everyone who has ever shared those thoughts with me.
In case you're wondering, this is the most-viewed post of all time, which is kind of funny because I said very little (but provided a link to something provocative). This is my favorite personal story I've shared, although if you're willing to read my two epic multi-chapter sagas (one about quitting a law firm, one about the implosion of my undergraduate student government), please help yourself. This is my favorite piece of Co-Create UMBC social/political commentary. And I have treasured the reaction to this post the most (I've re-posted each year), because years ago this list was simply my way of coping with life.
So what topics should Co-Create UMBC tackle in the years ahead? What new series could complement the Real People Profiles and help reveal the UMBC community to itself? What conversation starters would prompt you to share? Leave a comment, and let's get this next half-decade started.
--David Hoffman
Co-Create UMBC is a blog for and about UMBC, written by David Hoffman and Craig Berger from the Office of Student Life. Join the Co-Create UMBC group on MyUMBC. Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook. And follow David and Craig on Twitter.
