Jeff Bulanda @jeffbulanda - Tumblr Blog

Many of the greatest leaders in the world’s history, were masters of civic literacy. They were able to unite nations, rebel against authority, and even ignite the fire to start some of the greatest reforms in history. These men and women used persuasive writing and speech to accomplish all of these things that they strived to do to improve society.

In my opinion, Adolf Hitler was one of the greatest masters of civic literacy. Though what he did was wrong, he was able to unite a nation under his rule using persuasive writing and speech. He started from the bottom of society and ,using civic literacy, started one of the greatest success stories in history.

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snowsoracle

I have a hard time understanding what a Speech Community is as it is not clearly defined in the article, and at least to me it seems unreasonable that people who have nothing in common would form a community for the sole purpose of talking to each other (as the name Speech Community implies)....

jeffbulanda

I agree with your comments about the differences between discourse communities. I am also not completely sure what a speech community is. I think that discourse communities are more formal and structured.

#uwrt008

Discourse Communities

From my understanding of what this article entails, a discourse community is somewhat of a sub-genre. It seems to me that Swale informs us that these are just very specific sub-genres. The example of the AT&T memo led me to believe this. The speech community is focused around the group and the groups’ needs while the discourse community is focused around the goals that they are trying to accomplish. It also seems as though you must join a discourse community while in a speech community you are born or cast into that specific group. In my opinion, discourse communities seem much more formal in structure and in processes.

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pensandmachine

Essay writing tip from my friend Theresa

I asked my friend Theresa (who is majoring in philosophy) for tips on writing a philosophy essay and wrote down what she gave me.

Although these are meant to be for philosophy essays I think they could be used for other essays in general as well. These are really basic tips, but are nevertheless helpful and essential!

Writing Across the University

Throughout high school and the rest of my years of schooling, I have always learned that there are certain and specific rules regarding essays and writing.I have always learned that a proper essay has five paragraphs: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. I've learned, since being in college, that different classes and topics require different methods of writing. Some should follow these rules, some should completely toss them out of the window. I believe that students aren't given the freedom to think for themselves until college rolls around and you've already had mainstream education shoved down your throat. In college, I believe that most professors, in my experience, give you the freedom to think and learn in whichever way works best for you.

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voilalindsayanne

jeffbulanda

Many times when writing, I find that I have no idea where to start. Ill start with something the think, "Nah, that's just flat out stupid." Reading Lamott's article helped me understand that a first draft is just used to, I guess for lack of better word, ramble. She compared the first draft to a child. Sometimes it's emotional, sometimes it's crazy, and sometimes its just going to say things that just make you wonder. First drafts aren't supposed to win a Pulitzer. If it does, congrats you probably did a damn good job. Just make your fingers move, make the pen write, and the pencil scratch. The words and sentences might seem completely off the wall, hell, some might even be the best you've ever written. Just shoot for it. It's a first draft for a reason. You can clean it up later.

#writing #uwrt008 #anne lamott

Malcolm X Learning to Read

Malcolm X is one of the faces of the Civil Rights movement. He is still a respected icon to this day. Malcolm X has many speeches that inspired and helped ignite the Civil Rights movement. Little do we know, Malcolm X taught himself to read while in prison. He explains to us that he copied pages from a dictionary and through his tedious work, he was able to feel a sense of pride in himself for completing such a task. Using the dictionary and the rest of the resources he had while in prison, Malcolm was able to read with ease. Prison allowed him to study more intensively than he would have been able to anywhere else. When people ask his Alma Mater, Malcolm replies "Books." He never had a formal education past eighth grade. The prison and the prison library helped educate the man that we so prominently associate with the Civil Rights Movement.

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Sponsors of Literacy

In this work, Brandt shows us how different types of literacies are available through socioeconomic status. For example, Dora Lopez lived in a midwest town. Her family was not wealthy and spoke mostly Spanish. She spoke English. She used her available resources to learn to read and write in Spanish. Using her new skills, Dora obtained a job working and translating for a cleaning company.

She was sponsored by the help that her parents could provide to her using the resources that were available to them. Different races and socioeconomic classes have certain advantages to their literacy. The higher class of Raymond Branch had given him many things to make him succesful and the lower class of Dora Lopez allowed her to gain and work on certain skills in order to be a successful person.

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Literacy in 3 Metaphors

We discussed what "literacy" means in class and it was agreed that it had something to do with the ability to read and write. This was always the definition I believed was correct. This essay puts literacy into three metaphors: literacy as an adaption, literacy as power, and literacy as a state of grace.

1. Literacy as an adaption: This is also known as functional literacy which is the level of proficiency necessary for effective performance in a range of settings and customary activities. This is similar to the definition of literacy I assume to be true. Functional literacy is what is used in classes and tests.

2. Literacy as power: Throughout history, the wealthy are usually the ones who are educated. This is still true to this day across the world. Literacy rates in wealthy, more advanced countries are higher than those in countries that are not well-developed.

3. Literacy as a state of grace: Literacy in this context is not politically or economically pursued, but instead performed for the individual. The reading and memorizing of holy texts is an example of this. The people will read and somewhat "become" what they are reading. The reading and writing can be self-enhancing as it is not done, but to appease the reader.

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frattylight-blog

We Are All Writers Now

In this piece, Trubec is explaining how even though we are beginning to stray away from physically writing, we are still "writing" through social networks. Tweets can be no more than 140 characters, but can concisely tell stories about anything from what you had for lunch all the way to some weird guy you saw at the mall.

The classical art of writing may be changing but a new age of writers is up and coming. Writing isn't just for professionals now, any can be a writer.

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