For your third blog post, it’s time to hit YouTube.  Your challenge is to find two videos that you think fit most or all of the characteristics of the “personal essay” (see the list we brainstormed in class) and embed them in your blog.  For each video write a short explanation of the characteristics you see. In addition, be sure to comment on three of  your classmates’ blog posts.

Be forewarned–searching on YouTube can be challenging–search terms can only be one word long (so, for example, “personal essay” will not work).   You can, of course, search for combined terms (like “personal” and “essay”), but given that YouTube is a medium devoted to the visual, what this yields might not be what you expect or want. Since the site is designed to search for content–rather than genre–you’ll need to think about different search terms.  This might be a good time to use some of the terms you’ve mentioned in your second blog post (knitting or yoga, for example) to see if you find anything resembling a personal essay film. The key here is to experiment and be open to possibilities.  It’s about trial and error!