Well everyone, this is it! Welcome to my 7th and final blog post of my English I composition course. This last semester has been one hell of a ride with the Covid-19 outbreak. All our classes were switched to online courses, we are quarantined and currently partaking in social distancing. It has made this semester very hard but we are getting through it. Anyway, my focus for today's blog post is reflecting on my experience through my English composition course. How I am the writer I am because of what this class has taught me and how I plan to take what I have learned and apply it to my future writing. We were asked to examine the following links provided about Reflective writing and Genres in academic writing. I am also going to pick apart the acronym of GRITT, Gritt is something we used very often in this course and looked to for guidance.
GRITT stands for: Genre Awareness, Rhetorical awareness, Idenity as an author Theory of writing Transfer of writing I believe this acronym can be useful in whatever type of writing you are pursuing and has helped me immensely throughout my writing process in this course. Genre awareness is knowing how to use vocabulary, content, tone etc. to get your point across in a text. Genre sets the tone for your writing and it is a key aspect when it comes to good books, films, music Etc so understanding what the genre is when jumping into writing or a movie is important. Genre awareness can help you really evaluate your own writing. I never learned about genre awareness or the importance of it in my former learning environments. Now that I understand it and realize how it can affect my writing I always go back to evaluate my writing and make sure my genre is clear, that i'm using the right tones for the right parts, and that my descriptions and vocabulary make sense with my genre. The genre for my memoir is kind of an emotional non fiction. My research project is more from a political standpoint. Rhetorical awareness is important because it gives your writing a purpose. Whatever you write solely relies on how you write it when it comes to your type of audience. If you can't catch your audience’s attention or keep them entertained they won't continue to read your work. You need to “Know your audience” and know how to read them to write something that is going to keep them entertained. This course changed my outlook on Rhetorical awareness because I never knew what it was, I usually wrote things for me or because of an assignment, now with “blogging” and stuff I know that I have an audience that I like to write to. I applied this to my research project by informing, entertaining and using persuasive language to get my point across to my audience. My identity of being an author has never been anything like it is now. In the past I would write when I was told and what I was told. I never went off on my own to create a piece of writing because I felt I wanted to, it was all just school based. I kept a journal back then but barley wrote in it unless I was angry or stressed out. Now, I write when I want and write about what I want. I write when I need to for school, yes, but I also write to pass the time. I still keep a journal of course, but I write about my day everyday versus just writing when I am angry and it helps me cope with my feeling a lot better than it ever has. This course has finally helped me find my author identity, I found a purpose in this course. I figured out why I stopped writing and I found the comfort to start writing again. I lost Patricia (my author identity) a very long time ago and I am not going to lie, I never thought it would return to me so it is nice for me to see that the spark is back. Becoming a “blogger” also helped me reach my full writing potential, I finally had people listening and people actually interested in what I was writing instead of just receiving a letter grade for my work. I have never once found the actual joy or entertainment in writing anything. This course has impacted me by allowing me to express myself on my website by writing. I was able to make my website my own, even with following guidelines on what to write about, the website was all my own. I value writing a lot more after this class because I realized that it does let me express myself in a way that I can't in my everyday life. I can be whoever I want to be with my writing, I can also connect to any kind of audience that I want and that has made me find some joy and entertainment in writing, finally. School and going to class are important, you have to do it at the end of the day, if that's what you signed up for. Paying attention and wanting to learn are a whole different ball game. This course made me want to go to class, to write, to learn and explore all aspects that my author self could be. This course took me out of my comfort zone and made me write and publish things I never in a million years thought I would ever even talk about again. I plan to take all the writing knowledge I have learned and put it to a test in my future endeavors. I do not plan on just putting the pen down for the next 7 years, I plan on taking action and staying in touch with my author self. My writing process was always based on anger, bad moods and stress. Lately, it's based on my good moods, wanting to talk about my day, it's a stress relief when it used to be a stress cause. My mindset is clear when I write, I have a good head on my shoulders and I dont choke when it comes to getting my writing out there anymore. I write drafts now, I use scratch paper and jot down my ideas, I found my author self for sure, and I made her even better then she ever was. This course left a huge impact on me through everything, it helped my style, my self confidence in my writing and most importantly taught me how to "make meaning" when it comes to my thoughts and stories.
1 Comment
This blog post is going to focus on the alternate outcome of Blog post number 5, the “What if’s” of my story. What could have happened if I went down a different path of my night? This will be a reflection along with a dialog scene to show my alternate ending. We were assigned the following reading to get a more in depth look at writing an alternative ending. There are also links below to a short clip from the movie Kramer vs Kramer that shows depth and conflict to a "What if" scenario.
In blog post number five, I composed a narrative scene based on the night of my sexual assault at West Virginia University. I started out the night happy, excited and ready to take on a party with all of my friends. The pregame was so much fun, the room was bright, energetic and just filled with good vibes. What I didn’t mention was the fact that I did not even feel like going out that night. I went to Lex’s room pale faced, tired and miserable from my classes all day, but I thought in my head “You need to make friends” which had convinced me to drink my energy drink and go out. I could have just left after the beer pong tournament. Why did I drink the celebratory winning cup? Why didn’t I question why he had to go into the other room to get it when the jungle juice was in the same room? Why didn’t I go back to my room when I felt sick? These are questions I still ask myself to this day. What would have my alternative ending been like if I didn’t drink that last drink? How would it differ my life now? “Yo! D! You’re back, want to be on my pong team” “Alright Lex, I was your partner but fuck me right. Bitch” “Ashley we lost, were switching teams” “Yo!! Lex, be on my team!” “Ash, I'm gonna be on Kyle's team, You can be with D!” Me and D won the whole tournament. “FUCK YEA, We are chugging a celebratory cup of jungle juice, Ill be right back!” He said. Ashley, don't take random drinks, I already told you this. My head was right this time. My inner thoughts have been warning me all night, not keeping me from the fun. “Why did he go into the other room to get the jungle juice when the keg of it is right there?” I thought to myself. “D, what is in this drink?” “Eh you know just a little concoction I came up with” “Ok.. but what is in it?” “Just drink it Ash, I promise you’ll like it” Don't drink it Ashley, this is really sketchy. You’re right. “Nah bud, I think I’ll pass on this one. I'm not feeling that good” “Come on, we just won!! We have to celebrate” “I'm good!!! I don't want any” “Where is Ash?? ASH!!” “I'm over here Lex! I don't feel that great, are you ready to go back to the dorms?” “I thought you’d never ask” She responds. The scene above is the night I wish I would have had, my college life drastically changed because of that night; if I would have just said no to that celebratory drink, I would have gone home unharmed and happy. I would not have had to speak to cops, ashamedly give them a bag of my undergarments, or been in the hospital. I would not be 3,500 in hospital debt; I would have gone back to school sooner because I technically withdrew and had no financial aid help. This night altered my life and still kind of does to this day. If I would have taken that one step back to listen to my inner thoughts and not let impulse decisions of drinking control me, my life would be a little bit different then it is today. With all this though, I think to myself that I learned a lesson from it. What if it happened later in life? I never learned not to take the drink from a “friend” and I ended up dead? Or hurt? This was a learning experience, I am cautious now, I bring my own drinks, I know my limits; and as much as I wish the outcome was different, it taught me a valuable life lesson that I hope no other human has to ever experience. For this blog post we were assigned to read “Hills like white elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. We were asked what themes connect our stories to the reading. In hills like white elephants, the couple had to make a very serious decision and overcome a situation they agreed on. At the end they felt free. The theme that connects both our stories is “Freedom” from a tough situation. We were also asked to read the following to get a full understanding of using symbolism and dialog to make an emotional scene. These readings can be found below!
Shut the hell up *Music playing in the other room* “Guys, hello?, someone help me” *Banging on the wall* “Where’s Ash” Why can't they hear me? I'm screaming, I'm banging on the wall, why can no one hear me? What is happening? Why is no one coming for me? I guess I'll just go to sleep. “I found her, what's wrong with her? Why is there foam coming out of her mouth? Someone call 911” I'm at WVU, the biggest party college in the United States. I was dressed slutty, I deserved it, right? *Knocks on Alexis’ dorm door, music playing and people talking inside* “Finally you bitch, took you long enough!!!” “I had to shower and get my shit together, asshole” “Here’s your cup, pour up” You didn’t take your anxiety medicine today, you are dreading this party aren’t you ash? Shut the hell up!!!! “Let’s fucking goooo” "Do you want to beer bong some loko with us?” Ashley, what happened last time you drank that shit? Shut the hell up. “Fuck it, lets go” Chanting starts as I raise the rubber tube to my mouth, its nasty, what the fuck is gold flavor anyway? Oh, the 14% alcohol one, right. I feel my entire body get warm Why did you do that? Now you are drunk. Shut the hell up. I slowly sip my vodka red bull to get the horrible, bitter taste out of my mouth, its not working and now I really am drunk I told you not to! Shut the hell up. How am I this drunk at the pregame in a dorm room? Because you drink to drown your anxiety. I won't tell you to shut up this time, because you're right I hear the heels clicking on the floor, cameras flashing, that means everyone is ready. I get dressed, do one last hair and makeup check. I feel good, I look good, and I’m ready to go. I jump in the pictures, and pound a few beers with the boys before we walk out. I am walking up frat row with my water bottle of vodka and not a worry in the world “Ash let me get a sip” “Me to” “Yooo let me get one” If you get caught with this, you will throw away everything you worked for. Shut the hell up We get to the party, it is cold as shit, we are all freezing and the drunk has basically worn off from sweating walking up that big ass hill. “YOOOO ASH, LEX how’s my two favorite girls” “Were good D, How are you!!!” “Better now that you guys are here! You want a drink?” Remember what your mom told you Ashley, never take a drink from anyone. HE'S A FRIEND, shut the hell up! “Yea what are we drinking? You can have some of this, it's just vodka in the water bottle” “Yea i'll take some and were drinking the usual, jungle juice” Don't ever drink the jungle juice Ash. Oh my god, shut the hell up! “Lay it on me!” “Do we ever say no to alcohol? Lets chug ash” Its nasty, tastes like pink lemonade and battery acid “Dude, what the hell is in this?” “Pink lemonade, red koolaid and 8 different types of liquor” That explains it. Me and Lex leave to play beer pong in the kitchen. I laid off the Jungle juice, that one cup got me my buzz back, beer time it is. “Yo! D! You’re back, want to be on my pong team” “Alright Lex, I was your partner but fuck me right. Bitch” “Ashley we lost, were switching teams” “Yo!! Lex, be on my team!” “Ash, I'm gonna be on Kyle's team, You can be with D!” Me and D won the whole tournament. “FUCK YEA, We are chugging a celebratory cup of jungle juice, Ill be right back!” He said. Ashley, don't take random drinks, I already told you this. He's my friend! Shut the hell up! We chugged it, we all danced and sang for about 20 minutes. I didn't feel good, I was getting sick and I needed to lay down. I sat on a chair and put my head down that's when everything went black *Music playing in the other room* “Guys, hello?, someone help me” *Banging on the wall* “Where’s Ash” Why can't they hear me? I'm screaming, I'm banging on the wall, why can no one hear me? What is happening? Why is no one coming for me? I look over, I see the vodka water bottle I gave D on the nightstand, why is it in here? Why can't I get up? I guess I'll just go to sleep, I feel paralyzed, I'm scared.. “I found her, what's wrong with her? Why is there foam coming out of her mouth? Someone call 911” *Beep Beep Beepbeepbeepbeep* “Her blood pressure is dropping” “Ashley wake up, please wake up” I'm awake, why can’t I open my eyes? Open your eyes Ashley. OPEN THEM. I wake up, nurses and my friends surrounding me “How are you feeling honey?” “Lex, why am I here? What the fuck happened? I played beer pong and chugged a drink and that was all I remember. How did I get here? Am I hurt? Tell me something” “We found you unconscious last night at the party you were foaming out of your mouth, in D’s bed” You were raped Ashley. He's my friend, he was probably just giving me a place to sleep. Shut the hell up. “Ashley he told everyone this morning he slept with you and left when he saw your start foaming out of your mouth” I told you. “What? I'm in the hospital? How is that possible, no this can't be real” Believe it Ashley, he raped you. He would never do that, shut the hell up! “Hey Ashley, how are you feeling? I am the nurse who took your blood.” She had a sympathetic look to her. “I'm out of it, I feel horrible, I'm so confused on what is happening” “We found traces of MDMA, Cocaine and rufilin in your system. Do you remember taking any of these drugs?” Did you Ashley? Did you take drugs? No! Shut the hell up “No, I did not touch any drugs last night? How would drugs get in my system? I told you not to drink the jungle juice. “Did D put it in your drink?” “Lex, I think so” “Ashley, your friend Lex told me what happened last night, I think it is best we do a rape kit. Was he your friend Ashley? Do friends do this to friends? He wasn’t my friend. He did this. I needed closure, I needed to speak to the cops? Where do I start? “Ashley, we're here to help you, would you like the police contacted?” “Yes, I want to call my mom first” She's going to be furious. This wasn’t my fault. She will understand. Shut the hell up. I called her. She drops everything and is on her way to West Virginia. We go to talk to the cops, together. The cops look mean and irritated. They ask details but I don't know any “Ashley, can you start by telling us what happened?” “I don't know what happened I pregamed, went to a party, drank jungle juice and I was fine. The last cup of jungle juice I drank that my friend D gave me made me feel sick and I fell asleep. I somehow ended up in his bed” He took you there. “Did you do a ‘safe kit’ at the hospital?’” That’s what they call a rape kit now, huh? “Yes, I did” “And you didn't take any drugs?” he replied “No officer Cannon, I touched not one drug last night” “Do you want to press charges? DO it, press charges, send him to prison!!! “No. I want this to be silenced, I want this to end. I want him gone from this school and for a word to never be spoken about this. I want this memory erased from my life and not to be all over the school news” “Ashley, are you sure this is what you want” My mother chimed in. “Yes” You don’t want to be ‘that girl’ on campus who everyone knows about do you? “I'm sure this is what I want” “Okay Ashley, well. What we are going to need from you is a written statement and the whole outfit you were wearing last night, most importantly the underwear.” Oh this is fucking great. “Okay, I can grab it all from my dorm for you” “We will go with you” he says A police escort to your dorm, that screams “fitting in” doesn’t it Ashley. For the last time. Shut the hell up I walked in my dorm room, it was almost like a nightmare I couldn't escape, my mom searched my laundry with me and we acquired all the clothing items they needed. I handed the officers my plastic bag full of clothes, hands shaking, ashamed. I just wanted to go to bed. It’s been 4 days now, I always used to see him on campus but I haven’t since that night *Facetime from Alexis* “Hey babe, how are you doing today? We missed you at lunch.” “I'm sorry I just wasn't feeling up to it today, I'll be there tomorrow” “Okay, good. I miss your face. I was talking to Kyle today and I have some good news for you.. D was expelled” Holy shit Ashley, you did it. He is gone. “I wish I never had to hear that name again honestly” “Im sorry” she said “I thought it would give you some sort of happiness” “Nothing will ever take the thought out of my mind that I was violated Lex, but I do have some peace of mind knowing he will never be in my presence again” I am numb. I feel disgusting, I feel betrayed, I feel used and scared. I never want to go to a frat party again, I never want to go out again, I never want to drink in the presence of a male ever again. You can't think that way Ashley. You did not ask for this to happen to you, you didn’t do anything wrong. Your mom always told you, everyone is not your friend. Live your life, live it to your fullest and your happiest. If you let him take your freedom and life away dwelling over this, he won. Stand up tall, share your story and work on rebuilding yourself. For the first time, I wasn't going to tell that little voice in my head to shut the hell up because she was right. All along. Listen to that little voice in your head, it may save your life one day. In this blog post I will compose a short story from the three texts assigned to me. I am creating a dialog between myself and these three authors while they give me feedback on what steps to take to compose a good piece of writing. This assignment, to me was the most difficult one yet. I am awful at writing any type of fictional story.
The three texts that were assigned to me were as follows, give them a read:
It was a rainy Thursday night, I was at work like I am every Thursday night. I was talking to my regulars, serving drinks and listening to music. If I didn’t mention before I am a bartender at a little dive bar near the Philadelphia Airport. My bar is usually slower until late at night, just the usual customers, but I had noticed a male and two females that I have never seen before. They walked in looking defeated, wet and tired. I welcomed them in, asked them their names and drink of choice and asked what brought them in. They explained they were coming from the airport and they were set to do an interview in Philadelphia the next day. They told me their names were Don Murray, Mary Karr and Anne Lamott. Those names sounded all too familiar to me, I exclaimed that I knew of them and their writing, they were happy I had recognized their work! They noticed I was doing my school work, which is what I do on slow nights at the bar. Don asked me what I was working on and I responded that I was writing a draft for my blog assignment for my English Composition class, he was excited and asked if I needed any advice! I did need advice so I asked him “What do you believe would help me understand my writing process more?" Don responded “The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life. He uses language to reveal the truth to himself so that he can tell it to others. It is an exciting, eventful, evolving process.” Wow, did that open my eyes, I thought to myself “using language to reveal the truth to himself” that is amazing, I have never even thought about it like that I need to write it out to reveal my truth, I get that! I responded with “Thank you for that insight, that really spoke to me!” He asked if I had any other questions and oh boy, did I! I asked him “How can I decide when my work is good enough to be finished and turned in?” He responded with “Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness” “So basically what I am hearing is nothing is ever going to be perfect 100%, so why not find glory in a writing piece that may be unfinished even if it is finished in your eyes” He nodded. “So last question! What do you think the basic writing process steps are to a good writing piece? He responded with “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. The amount of time a writer spends in each stage depends on his personality, his work habits, his maturity as a craftsman, and the challenge of what he is trying to say. It is not a rigid lock-step process, but most writers most of the time pass through these three stages” I smiled. I had hope in my writing, because these are the steps I usually pass through while writing. I thanked him for all of his motivating words and decided to start a conversation with Mary! Mary said hello, and told me she would be more than happy to add on to the advice and asked me if there was anything she could add. I responded “Of course I have questions for you, thank you so much for asking! So my question for you Mary, I have an extremely hard time starting my writing, whether it's the topic, the question anything. I just can't find the words, is there a way to go about fixing that?” She responded with “In the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out, even if it later lands on the cutting room floor. Each page takes you somewhere you need to travel before you can land in the next spot.” “Wow” I responded, did that change my outlook on drafting. I asked her “How can I know if my writing is any good? I think to myself often that it is not good enough.” She responded “Even the smallest towns have coffee shop bulletin boards or community centers with a writer’s workshop now. Even the less good groups can help you by speaking for your potential reader—they’re way better than the echo chamber of your own head.” She was one hundred percent right, I couldn’t possibly know how good my work was until I tried to actually get it out there. “Final question Mary and I will get out of your hair!” She nodded. “I am going to ask you the same question I asked Don, How can I know when my writing is good enough to be finished and turned in?” She laughed, and responded “Writing, regardless of the end result—whether good or bad, published or not, well reviewed or slammed—means celebrating beauty in an often ugly world. And you do that by fighting for elegance and beauty, redoing or cutting the flabby, disordered parts” Her response was a breath of fresh air, and no where near the response I got from Don, but both answers really spoke to me. “Thank you so much Mary for all of your advice and insight, you really made me think about my writing in a different light!” She shook my hand and said she wanted to leave me with one more thought “None of us can ever know the value of our lives, or how our separate and silent scribbling may add to the amenity of the world, if only by how radically it changes us, one and by one.” Lastly, Anne comes up. I engage in some small conversation and notice she has been drinking water all night. I asked her if she would like anything else and she told me about the story of her sobriety and how she has now been sober for 34 years. I congratulate her and tell her that she should be proud of herself for taking that step to better her life. She noticed I asked everyone else questions so she asked me if I had any for her. “Yes, I do have some questions actually. I mentioned this before but I want your input. I have trouble getting my writing started, to jot anything down to come up with ideas, how do I put my mind to it and come up with good content?” She giggled at me and took her cheetah print glasses off and put them on her head and explained “For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts” “Really shitty first drafts, Why would you want them to be shitty? Shouldn’t they be good to start your writing off with a good slate? She laughed again “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page.” “I like that idea a lot, so it’s basically only something I am going to see, even if I don't finish it or have to revise it to no end, at least I started it and got something down. Rough drafting is something I have always wanted to do but am no good at, so what is your drafting process? Well…. She continued “ I’d write a first draft that was maybe twice as long as it should be, with a self-indulgent and boring beginning, stupefying descriptions of the meal, lots of quotes from my black-humored friends that made them sound more like the Manson girls than food lovers, and no ending to speak of. The whole thing would be so long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest of the day I’d obsess about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second draft. I’d worry that people would read what I’d written and believe that the accident had really been a suicide.” “Wow, that sounds like something I would do, just drafting word for word and making it super long and boring, but I guess that’s why you have to draft and write down all your thoughts, because if it there on the page you can piece it apart and put all the ideas back together again right?” She responded: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something— anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.” “Well Anne, you have really given me a handful to think about, you are very outspoken and you have given me advice that makes me want to change the ways I go about my writing process. Thank you so much for all of your insight and congratulations on your sobriety" I looked at the clock and couldn’t believe it was 1:00AM, I called last call and kindly thanked each of the authors for their time writing motivation they had given me. I started closing up and got a brainstorm of all the ideas I could put into my draft, I took my notebook and eagerly started my blog post. Hopeful and happy. Hello my lovely readers, welcome back to my blog!
We have finally made it two weeks into English 100 and boy was I wrong about how easy I thought this class was going to be. Luckily, I feel like we can power through it. Enough of my ranting though, let’s get into the good stuff! This blog post is going to be focused on the reading “A fable for the living” by Kevin Brockmeier. I thought this was going to be boring, but this read was an emotional roller coaster. We were asked the question “How does the theme of this reading connect to your letter?” I think this story relates to my letter because throughout the whole reading the author was showing that the wife never gave up hope. Although I have fallen off with my writing my letter shows that I do have hope, that I will eventually get back to where I once was with my author self and put out the best version of my writing I can. Dear Patricia, My god, How long has it been? Four years? We used to talk everyday at West Virginia University. We were best friends since the 5th grade, inseparable even. We wrote in a journal together everyday about how our day went and how we were feeling about the day we had. We wrote stories together, we even tried to get into poetry.. What happened? Lately, things don’t seem to be the same between us. Was it the partying? Failing out of school? My toxic friendships and peer pressure to fit in that made us separate so quickly? I can picture in my mind the last time we saw each other, like it was yesterday. We were sitting on queens ridge mountain, watching the sun go down and thinking about our life paths. Ever since that day its as though I climbed back down the mountain and you just stayed there to keep watching the sun everyday. I left you with no survival skills and no equipment to get back down with me or even climb to the top on your own. Ever since I left West Virginia we disintegrated, it’s like we never even knew each other. I guess I don’t only have you to blame though, communication is a two way street and we both took a one way route. I wanted to reach out and apologize for leaving you and not looking back, for not trying to get in contact, and for avoiding you when you tried to make an appearance. Our journal took me out of some dark, sad and unexplained days, days only you and I knew about. I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore, so here is what we're going to do to fix this relationship. I want to come back to queens ridge to find you and bring you to the top with me this time. When you want to come to light I will bring you to that light, if you have something on your mind that you cannot explain to others or you are stressed we will sit down and write about it like the old days. Finally, we are going to stay in contact, and I mean that. It has been hell trying to find you again and you are finally coming back. I would really like it if you stayed along for the ride. I like our talks and vent sessions, it calms me; keeps me at peace. So please.. If i bring you back into my world.. Will you stay? Sincerely, Ashley Gaylor Hello, and welcome back to my blog. My second blog post is going to focus on creating my website for my English composition I class. We are going to discuss why we are making a website, get some insight on how multimodal modes affect our writing and also get into detail about how certain modes of writing can influence your readers point of view on your essays. We will also discuss CRAP and how it relates to our website content.
For more information on how to make a website or how to make your website successful you can visit: For more information on Multimodal writing, or if you wanted to form your own opinion you can visit: Why are we creating a website for our English Composition I course? We are creating a website because as writers there are different things that stand out to each of us individually. I also believe we are creating a website to be able to, not only write about certain things, but also be able to show a visual, give the reader something to look at besides just words. Some writers are more into pictures and videos over text, some are opposite. Having a website gives us all a chance to depict our writing in a way that we think is best. How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing? Ball and Charlton define multimodal writing as “Multiple+mode” They believe that every type of writing is considered multimodal and that all writing includes a combination of either these five modes; Linguistic, Gestural, Spatial, Aural and Visual. Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"? I do agree that all writing is multimodal. When I am reading something I am never just reading. If I am engaged, am painting a picture in my head of what I am writing or reading. I think visual representation of a writing piece is a really important part of the writing process. The modes that they discuss in this read are all important parts of any good writing experience. As a website author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking. As a website author I believe the most important modes rank from 1 being the most important to 5 being the least important. I would rank Spatial as being my first important mode. It sets a layout to your work, and I believe that if I was to go read something and it was all messy, unorganized with no structure I would get lost and would no longer be interested in whatever I am reading. Linguistic mode would be next on my list, the language you are using and what you are saying is what you are trying to describe to the reader. Your choice of words, the way you describe your story and what you are trying to portray from the way you are writing is very important. Visual would be the mode that comes in 3rd. When explaining something or telling a story I feel as though pictures and videos may help to describe what you cannot describe with words. For example, let's say you were talking about a news broadcast, it may be more interesting to the reader to actually view the same broadcast and fully understand the context rather than just reading words about it. Coming in 4th place the aural mode. Sounds, music and noises may be helpful when trying to explain a story, if you're trying to help the reader fully understand the situation you are speaking about you are going to want them to hear what you heard in the same surrounding you were in to give them a better understanding, also trying to have them understand the tone of voice used. Lastly, I think gestural mode comes into play. I believe this comes in as the last important mode because as it is used in writing it mostly comes into play when having a face to face conversation with another person. Gestural is using your hands, interaction and body language and while you can portray that in your writing, I think it is more important in day to day human contact rather than writing. What does the C.R.A.P. acronym stand for? The "C.R.A.P" acronym stands for: C: Contrast- Making things stand out R: Repetition- Makes reading a website easier (I.E- Same color text, bullets, lists ETC.) A: Alignment- Aligning texts to make things look neat and give an easier read. P: Proximity- Things that are associated with each other are put together, helps with navigation and spacing. As a website author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-4? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking. I feel for a website to have any type of success all aspects of CRAP are very important but if I was to personally put them in order according to importance I would say Contrast is first, Alignment is second, Repetition is third and lastly would have to be proximity. The reason I say contrast is most important is because if I was to click on a website and there were bright colors and it was interesting I would stay on that website and explore it. If i was to click on a website that was just black and white and boring I would instantly want to click off. Alignment comes in second for me because when I do click on a website I am immediately interested if it is something organized and has a structure, a big mess of random writing everywhere would confuse me and turn me off the website. Repetition comes in 3rd, it was very close to alignment for me because of what I mentioned about an organized website. Bullet points, lists and structure make me want to stay on a website, if it is easy for me to read and keep me interested I will want to keep reading. Last but not least, we have proximity. This one comes in last to me because I feel the others are more important but this one is least to me. Proximity is association of text, putting certain things together with one another to make the website easier to navigate, but I feel as though even when certain things are not put together on a website, it is fairly easy to find them when reading through a page. What are the seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition? Borton and Huot suggest that to write a multimodal composition you have to have Purpose, Audience, Tone, Organized, Transitions, Synthesize and detailed. Do the Borton-and-Huot criteria seem similar or different from the criteria we would use to assess a traditional print essay? Why or why not? I think the Borton and Huot criteria is very similar to the criteria we use today to assess and essay. I think this because when we go to write an essay today we usually have a prompt or a specific question we are required to answer to write the essay giving the composition a purpose. When writing a composition you will more than likely choose words more wisely depending on who you know is going to read your writing. For example, if you were writing an essay for your teacher, you would not word the essay the same way you would if you were writing it for a friend, your writing style will depend on your audience. Going back to what I said prior about audience, your tone will also come into play when writing an essay, giving the reader an idea of how you are speaking. Organization in an essay is extremely important as well, when starting a new paragraph you always indent it to let the reader know that you are proceeding with a new topic in that paragraph, it keeps the essay flowing and gives it structure. Transitions also plays into organization in my eyes, like I said about indenting a paragraph. You can also use wording to transition your ideas along your essay. When you complete your last paragraph you will most likely include words like “In conclusion” letting the reader know that your essay is coming to an end. Synthesizing in an essay basically to me means that you are showing proof and providing evidence to claims that you are making in your writing. Your writing includes facts, research and citation to credit the original writer while also including your own opinions and research. Last but not least, when you are writing an essay you will always include detail to paint a picture for your reader. You will explain noises, sounds, give examples to your reader to give them an idea of what you are trying to say while not being able to physically show them. Hello! My name is Ashley, welcome to my blog! This blog is a result of my English 100 class. We will have many blog posts in this class but the first post we are going to touch base on is The Proust questionnaire. This questionnaire was written by a novelist who goes by the name of, you guessed it, Marcel Proust. Proust believes that in answering these 35 crafty questions, you reveal your true self. We are going to answer these questions and see if we can reveal my personality! This assignment was very enjoyable to do, check it out for yourself and see what you think! __1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness?
My Idea of perfect happiness is waking up with a family, my family, with a house full of nothing but love, laughs and pure joy. Having a stable life and family is my idea of perfect happiness. __2.__What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear is not getting full custody of my daughter in court, I don't know where I would be without that girl and I know her best life would be spent with me full time. Basically, losing my family all together, losing something I have waited for, for so long and have finally acquired. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My need to always be right, I can never admit when I'm wrong in a situation and just apologize. I always have to have the last word. It is something I am working on as of right now in my life. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? Selfishness or not being able to reciprocate actions. There are a lot of selfish people in my life and it is something that really gets under my skin. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mother, She has done everything for me. When she had nothing I still had everything I ever needed or wanted. She also taught me how to be the mother I am today and continues to do so everyday. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is probably getting my hair done. It's not necessarily a need but more of a want. It makes me feel better about myself! __7.__What is your current state of mind? I am in a good state of mind right now, it could be better but I have a lot of emotional issues I need to correct within myself. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I believe diligence. I feel as though a lot of good work unnoticed and under appreciated even if you worked your butt off. In my head I feel like if my hard work is going unnoticed what is the point in doing my best every single time. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I don’t usually ever lie, I tell it how it is, no matter how bad it is. I will occasionally tell a white lie to my parents if it benefits me but that's all! __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? My body, It's been an issue for me ever since I was about 8 years old. I've always had body image issues and to this day they still haven't completely faded. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? My biological father. I never want to see him, speak to him, or even come close to saying his name ever again. He is dead to me. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? A good sense of humor and good personality. A man who can match my humor and come back at me with something twice as funny. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Someone who is a good listener, a good friend and can offer support when needed. Someone who will let you vent to them and give you honest advice on your situation. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? My vocabulary is mostly swear words, I curse like a sailor. My main phrase is usually “Are you Fu**ing kidding me” __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? The greatest love of my life is my daughter and my boyfriend. I cannot pick between them because they are my family and the source of all my happiness. __16.__When and where were you happiest? I am my happiest right now. The life I have been living makes me extremely happy. I am advancing for my family, and am working my ass off to achieve all my goals. Everything I am doing at this moment is what I have been waiting for. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to be able to sing, I am good with crowds, I have good energy and would have a lot of fun with it, I just don’t have the vocals. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My temper, I tend to speak before I think and lash out without thinking of the consequences of my words. This is also something I have been working on. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? My greatest achievement right now is getting my life together, going back to school, saving money and not going out as much as I used to. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would want to come back as a mermaid. Everyone questioning whether I am real or mythological while I am swimming around peacefully living my best life. I also love the ocean and swimming so it fits. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I would like to live in North or South Carolina, away from my hometown but close enough to a beach. It is also close enough to visit family when I want to but not close enough for everyone to stop by all the time. Just enough distance! __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession is my promise ring from my boyfriend. It was a Christmas present from him and he vowed to replace it with an engagement ring one day. That to me is something I will never forget, it keeps me sane looking at it and knowing that I have a future with the love of my life! __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I think the lowest depth of misery is accepting awful things that happen to you as normal when they shouldn’t be happening in the first place, basically just accepting the bad as normal. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation is a Surgeon, you get to save lives, or at least attempt to. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication which I like a lot. I also love an occupation that always keeps you busy and moving. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? Anger for sure. I have tells when I am angry and its obvious. My face, tone of voice and body language get all out of whack when I am angry! __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Trust. Honesty is a big thing to me! I want to be able to tell my friends a secret and know that it won’t be told to everyone. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? I'm going to be honest, I don’t read books as much as I should but when I do I am a huge fan of Stephen King. I am a huge horror person when it comes to books and movies. I have read a few of his books and have seen most of his movies. He writes with depth and visuals and that is something I admire in a writer. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Meredith Grey because she always has a lot going on and she always gets through it. She dedicates her life to her friends, her job and her family. She is independent and just an all around bad ass. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Edith Cavell. She was sentenced to death and still went out of her way to help others in need of her assistance __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My mom, dad, and my boyfriend all for different reasons. My mom is a cop, she is one of the most loving, caring and supporting people I know. My dad took me in when no one else did even when he didn't have to; my boyfriend is there for me every step of the way through my daily life and took me out of a very dark place. __31.__What are your favorite names? My favorite name is the name Jordan. It can be used with both genders and my next child boy or girl will have the name Jordan. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? I most dislike liars. Mostly because I am way to understanding of a person for anyone to ever feel the need to lie to me. I understand that things happen and I can usually hear someone out but when I am lied to I no longer can trust that person. __33.__What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret is taking my life down a bad path, and not only did I chose that bad path I accepted my life for what it was at the time and convinced myself I wouldn't come back from it. I finally changed myself, that path is in my past and will never be traveled again. __34.__How would you like to die? I would like to die quick and gracefully. I don’t want to die all bloody and messy. If I died I would like for my friends and family to be able to see me one last time at my funeral in a nice peaceful ending. __35.__What is your motto? Simple. You get what you give in life, you receive the good and bad that you dish out. |
Ashley GaylorI use this blog as a place to reconnect with my author self Archives
May 2020
Categories
All
|