Purposeful Writing

I have an old paper to finish up for a sociology class. The problem I face is figuring out something worth writing about. I didn't choose to attend my school to play games, my intention was to learn. I have no problem writing papers when I see some good coming of them, but that's the hard part: what difference is a paper I write for a class going to make. So my challenge is to figure out how to write something that actually matters.

It's not that actions matter and words don't; words surely matter; they just have to be the right words at the right time. But what is that? What words are needed in what context? I suppose I can do much more with my words, but I need to know what ought to be done first. I have some ideas, which I've expressed in previous posts. However, I'm of course still learning. That is why I'm still in school. I need to figure out what ought to be done through reading books and participating in intelligent conversation with supposed experts.

I suppose what I should do is apply sociological analysis to today's problems. Can looking at the manufacture of the goods we buy through a phenomenological shed important insight? I think so. I wonder what type of work the "public sociology" advocates have produced? Apparently nothing to popular, since I'm clueless about their work, yet have heard plenty about things like the TV show or whatnot called "True Blood" without putting the slightest effort into it. This stuff in people's minds and on advertisements that inevitably make contact with my eyes, so I find out. Why can't public sociology be this way? Why wasn't everyone talking about Bill Moyers Journal back when it was still on the air? Why do most people seem to like True Blood better? How exactly is the world of thoughts constructed? What is the role of agency in this construction? How does our environment facilitate or hinder our ability to participate in new alternatives? What environmental factors are most responsible for the frustration so many people feel in their lives?

I suppose for now on I can integrate public documents and conversations into my writings. The purpose of this would be to be part of those conversations. There are topics and there are people talking about those topics and some of those people have special credibility, which means what they say is paid extra attention to. It only makes sense to engage with the material that is paid most attention too. Even in the cases when the conversations paid most attention too are of low intellectual quality, one can highlight higher quality work in the discussions of the conversations.

So my attempt is to be purposeful. I aim to do this in my writing as well as in the other areas in my life. It seems insane to me that it's been so difficult to achieve a high level of purposefulness in my life even at this stage of my life, but I guess that's just how it goes with human existence at this historical period. However, the tide might soon be turning.