write write write write write

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

Discourse Communities

I have never really thought of the things that I do on a weekly basis, as discourse communities. To me, when I first heard that saying, it seemed negative. After reading Swales’ readings that we are assigned, I understood what discourse communities really were. The main discourse community that I am involved in would be my weekend volleyball team. We always meet up at renaissance park in the summer time and play against other random teams that meet there. We are all really close, but we don't have anyones number, so the only time that we communicate is on the court when and if we come on that Saturday. 

I have another idea of a discourse community that I am involved in, but I’m not sure if it would count. I work for a woman who owns a hair salon all the way in Oak Island, North Carolina. She hired me and 2 other girls to help her run her Facebook site for her salon. I rarely see her, and I have never met the other girls that help run the website. We always have eating over Facebook and that is the only way that we communicate and make decisions about our site. Would that be considered a discourse community?

[writingquotes-deactivated201509]

Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.

Raymond Chandler (via writingquotes)

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

Writing Across the University

Writing is not only written in several different ways by different people but it is also perceived in different ways as well. Since starting college, I have noticed that different professors like different styles of writing. I have to sometimes write things in a way that I usually wouldn't, so that whoever is grading my piece will like it. Everyone writes differently and I think thats what makes writing so great. Writing is just one way that people use to express themselves, but there are so many ways to express yourself in writing. (poems, essays, journals, etc.)

Glade also started talking about formatting and to me, that is just another thing that I would have to do for a teacher to enjoy my piece. A lot of teachers want our class's assignments in a certain format to fit their liking, and we do it so we receive a good grade. I first thought formatting was a waste of time because it made it hard for me to write. For example, whenever I have to write a paper in MLA format, it is hard for me to tie in anything personal because it seems to formal. Now, I realize that the whole point is so we can learn how to overcome those obstacles and learn new ways of writing. 

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

I decided to use a comic strip to depict an example that I put in my literacy narrative because I thought pictures would help me describe the setting and my feelings. It was difficult to not use as many words as I would have liked but I really liked my final product even though it looks better than the scanned picture. I was nervous to keep the comic strip with no color but then I decided to keep it black and white, as if it were in a newspaper. 

I wrote a poem because I thought that it would be the best way to express my appreciation to my friend for teaching me one way to show someone that you love them. Again, my final product of my poem is much better than the scanned photo. 

Overall, I enjoyed trying to recreate my essay in different forms. It gave me more room for creativity and more room to express my feelings. 

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

Shitty First Drafts

Surprisingly enough, authors that are known to many people around the world, cant even write a perfect draft. I always assumed that one day, after lots of practice, I would be able to write an awesome paper, story, or even a book on the very first try. After reading Lamott's excerpt, I realize how naïve my last sentence sounds. No matter how great of a writer you become, writing still takes time. Even while I do my tumblr posts, which seem fairly easy because you can write about whatever you felt about a passage, I still go back, double check, and make sure everything is correct. That, in a way, is like a first draft. This was on of my favorite readings by far because it made me think that no matter how good someone is at anything, not just reading or writing, they still have drafts before their final outcomes. Some examples would be; practicing a sport before a game, a magician learning a new magic trick, or a dance team getting ready to perform for their first live audience. I guess the main thing I learned, is that almost anything you're good at in life has a shitty first draft, even if you are very skilled in that department.

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

Malcolm X

I have taught 5 of my cousins how to read and write when they each turned 6 years old, and it was one of the most frustrating and difficult thing I've ever had to do for someone else. I couldn't imagine having to teach myself how to write, I would end up giving up, especially if I were in prison. Although the main purpose of this reading may not have been what I took away from it, I believe my view makes a lot of sense too. Imagine how motivated you would have to be to complete something like that, while in prison. Think about it, there are kids that have the opportunity to get their k-12 education, at least, and some of them are to lazy to even attempt to learn common literacy traits, and Malcolm X did this by himself with no help inside of a locked cell. This reading goes to show that no matter what your situation is, that you can always learn things from yourself, which means there is absolutely no excuse to not have decent literacy skills. In a way, Malcolm X is a great example to children, and even people my age, that the time that you spend making excuses for yourself, you could have been trying to learn whatever you needed to.

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

Sponsors of Literacy

After reading Sponsors of Literacy, I realized that I was quite naïve to the subject prior the assignment. I knew that diversity played a big role in a handful of things, but I failed to realize that literacy was one of them. I knew that some races were "known" to have a better chance at education in general, but it felt wrong to think that it was because of their background. I believe that the minute you are born, you have a chance to succeed. You also have a choice to succeed. No matter what, you can always do something that you put your mind to. Yes, I agree that some races have a harder time obtaining an education, or learning things quickly, whether it be where they live, where they're from, or what their parents do for a living. Although it may be harder for them, it is not named impossible. There are many minorities that have made their name known to everyone around them, and that just proves that it is possible for anyone. Honestly, it somewhat makes me upset that these things are stopping many people around the world from learning even the most common literacy traits. Diversity is a wonderful thing and it shouldn't be viewed as a hindering on a person's learning ability.

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

What is Literacy?

When people hear the word literacy, the normally think of a person's ability to do something, mostly a person's ability to read and write. This is how I would have defined literacy before reading Sribner's, Literacy in 3 Metaphors. The metaphor that I agree with most out of the reading would be the section that says Literacy as Adaptation. I strongly agree with this because I believe that literacy is adapted to each person based on each experience, or activity that they participate in. I don't think that someone can just obtain literacy as a trait by learning a definition or hearing something new. I believe that you gain literacy through each situation, by researching, experimenting or practicing. Literacy is also, not only knowing something about a topic, but how well you can either act on it, or even teach it someone else. After reading this, I realized that many people treat the word literacy as just a word rather than something you obtain through experience. 

[morganbrimhalluwrt]

We are all Writers Now

Reading this article was very refreshing for me. I am constantly surrounded by people, mostly the elderly, criticizing, bashing, and blabbing about how much they don't support the rise of social media and how it is preventing us from a real education. I enjoyed this blog article by Anne Trubek because I felt as though she explained everything perfectly and, in a way, took the words right of my mouth. She showed her readers a new perspective on how she felt about how most writings are perceived today. Not only does this make writing easier, more common, and honestly more fun for people (students specifically), social media and or anything over the internet, helps people share their writings to others in an easier way. Trubek expresses how she feels about the "new" writing styles in a perfect way, especially when she says, "And if we subscribe to the theory that the most effective way to improve one’s writing is by practicing—by writing more, and ideally for an audience—then our writing skills must be getting better." I have never thought of me tweeting, making statuses, commenting on articles online, or even just reading up on celebrity gossip pages, as "practice". But in reality, it is exactly that. Writing is all about expressing and explaining your beliefs or stories in whatever way is comfortable for you. The more you write, the more comfortable you get with the aspect of writing. For example, if a students blogs, reads, or writes whatever they want on social media over the summer, and then starts a writing class in the fall, they shouldn't feel nervous about anything since they have been doing it on their own for three months. I was scared about not doing well in the UWRT class since I haven't written anything in a while, or so I thought, until Anne Trubek's article had me thinking in a whole new way.