words & writing

Currently Dreaming of Joel’s Elbows

Posted on by ramoffitt

I wrote this title in reference to Karen Rosenberg’s Reading Games, the reading assignment for today. In it, she describes solutions for reading the horrid scholarly articles. (N.B. If scholarly articles are your thing, congratulations. You’re a better person than I) At the end were conveniently placed discussion questions. Let’s dive in.

Pick one reading strategy above that you may have used in reading a text previously. Discuss the ways in which this strategy worked for you and/or didn’t work for you. Would you recommend friends use this strategy? How might you amend it, and when might you use it again?

I love the idea of making reading a social event. My thoughts are clarified through talking them out with other people. Plus, it’s cool to see how differently others deciphered the same reading. It usually works well for me, right up until the conversation turns from the symbolism in the text to the latest buzz throughout the hallway. And there, my friends, is the downfall. There’s no way to fix it, either. The teenage brain is wired to figure out who has the cutest semi date or nicest car. You can’t get in the way of it, it just happens. Back to the strategy: I’d use it next time I don’t quite comprehend a reading. It’s sort of like killing two birds with one stone.

The author writes in several places about reading academic texts as entering a conversation. What does this mean to you? How can you have a conversation with a text?

I think Rosenberg is trying to say that one should pick apart a reading to see what he or she does and doesn’t agree with and challenge that. It’s another way to get yourself involved and focused. Have a conversation by voicing your opinion as well (in your head most likely).

Until next time,

Rach

Everyday Writing Research

Posted on by ramoffitt

What kinds of sources have you already used to think about everyday writing?

A lot of class reading assignments lately have been focused on everyday writing. (how convienient, Laurie (; ) Some examples are Naming What We Know (Estrem, Russell, Roozen) and Backpacks vs. Briefcases. These have led me to seeing more depictions of everyday writing throughout my days.

What kinds of sources do you think might be helpful as you continue your research?

I need to go out and find examples myself. Doing research on refrigerators and their hidden meanings, I would have to look at other people’s. My dear friends have already sent me pictures of their fridges, begrudgingly of course. I now have to find other pictures and maybe some readings about the underlying significance of what people take pride in.

Until next time,

Rach

What’s Your Refrigerator Telling You?

Posted on by ramoffitt

Unfortunately, I’m focusing on the outside of the fridge tonight. What do the magnets, papers, pictures, etc. have to say about the house it belongs to?

My refrigerator is quite decked out. Covered in pictures, newspaper articles. art projects, and numerous magnets of varying shapes, colors, and sizes: it’s a great way to look into life inside the Moffitt household. The audience in this rhetorical situation is anyone who comes into our home, usually family and friends. To the unknowing passerby, our fridge looks like it was designed by a seven-year-old. (Joke’s on them. It actually was.) That’s where the exigence lies; not every person who sees our refrigerator understands the mess. If they don’t understand our family dynamic, they can’t comprehend why we’d let our refrigerator be the beautiful mess it is. We’re constrained by the lack of room on our fridge. The audience is constrained by its lack of understanding.

Until next time

Rachel

Everyday Writing: Meaningful or Mindless?

Posted on by ramoffitt

After scouring my bedroom for an example of everyday writing, I found an old birthday card from an even older friend. Inspiration found. The rhetorical situation for this card was that I was the audience. The purpose of the “author” was to express friendship and love. She may have taken inspiration from previous experiences or have created her own path. This is expressed in Roozen’s “Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity” from Naming What We Know. The writer found her purpose and performed for her audience, meeting her ethical responsibilities.

I also found it interesting that the words I found so meaningful and heartfelt can seem like just a jumble of words to anyone else who reads them. It makes me stop and think about my own life and how everything is subjective. Deep.

Until next time,

Rachel

“Ten Ways To Think About Writing”

Posted on by ramoffitt

This was a loooooong essay. You can check it out by clicking here.

At the end, the writers pose a series of questions. Here are a few:

Which section of this essay do you remember most clearly? Write down what you remember about it, and explain how you might use an idea in that section to help with a writing task that you’re doing this week. Why do you think this section stuck with you?

The section on showing and telling made a lot of sense to me. It made me stop and think about what my writing portrays and how it paints me as a writer. It stuck with me because it was relatable and easy to wrap my head around. Her real-world examples simplified a rather complex idea and I applaud her for that.

What other rules for writing have you been told to follow, either at school or outside of school in your workplace, community group, or online setting? List a couple of rules that weren’t described in this essay, and note down whether you think they’re most connected to the principle of writing from knowledge, showing enough detail, or adapting to readers’ needs. Also, if there’s another principle for writing that helps you a lot, something you always try to do, add a note about it so you can share it with your classroom peers.

“You guys are doomed when it comes to writing in college.” If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it two thousand times. Every grammar teacher follows the rules he or she likes; and as students we’re expected to know which rules are and are not honored in the class. Don’t use the pronoun “you” was the golden rule of Sophomore English class. “It can victimize the readers and give them advice they aren’t looking for” was the justification. I see this as a rule one can take or leave depending on the audience. I’m also a huge fan of the Oxford comma, which I see wasn’t mentioned. It can turn “I enjoy eating, dogs, and children to be exact” to “I enjoy eating, dogs and children to be exact.” Save the dogs and children. Use the Oxford comma.

Until next time,

Rachel