Someone is not just looking for you; they are searching for you, and you are only one one regrettable statement or stupid posting away from your judgement, and hence your character, being questioned by an admissions committee, potential boss, or anyone else casually (or intently) searching your name on the web—and it is going to happen! The irony that the only thing worse than a questionable digital presence is no presence at all. While there is some nobility in being off the grid, there may also be precious little else to set your particular genius and passion apart from the masses that are arrayed beside, before and behind you.

A powerful and compelling digital portfolio puts your proverbial best foot forward. Your digital portfolio, collated and curated over the course of time, makes a powerful statement of who you are, what you value, and what you have accomplished. A digital portfolio shows that you give a damn, and that you have been giving a damn for a long time. And that is a powerful reflection of your inner character, your persistence, and your values.

As your teacher--a guy who has spent the last fifteen years of my teaching using blogging communities, online assessment, and ongoing portfolio creation--it has been worth it for me. I love what you create; I love going to your blogs to see and read and watch and listen to what fills your screen--that tiny plot of real-estate, the bits and bytes of a digital world that is uniquely your own. I love seeing you progress as writers and artists with every new post and every new tangent of your imagination. And you are progressing--in amazing ways, in ways you might not even notice. But if you do, and if I do, others will as well.

I often like to quote Buddha when he said, “I am just a finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself.” You are the one who needs to find inspiration; you are the one who needs to be the captain of the ship that takes you to a distant port, and you are the one who needs to put into words what others can only imagine. [How's that for a tri-colon sentence?] We have only scraped the ground of what your blog can potentially become. The time has come for you to turn the soil, plant the seeds and tend your magnificent garden. And that is what I mean when I ask you to create, collate and curate.

To create is the miracle of thought put into form. To collate is to simply gather what you create. To curate is to perfect what you have created and to place it in the living museum that is your blog, the portfolio that you are willing to share with the world. In the end, it will outlive you, but it will inspire the generations you leave behind. It will show them, “yes, I gave a damn. I figured out who and what I am; I blasted and drilled through the hard rock of life, and I want to remember, and I want you to remember.”

So that's it. The rest is up to you...