12.06.2009
12.05.2009
Reaching the End...
I, personally, have learned a lot this semester. Not only can I apply what I have learned to my writing, but it is applicable in other aspects of my college career and even life. The most important information came by way of Joseph Harris, author of our class text book, Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts. Although the wordiness of the book made it difficult to read at times, the information portrayed became useful. I would pinpoint an exact chapter I felt was most influential in my writing, but without the remaining chapters the book and lesson would be incomplete. Not only did Harris outline techniques of his writing style, but gave us an example of these methods by writing his book. Applying the techniques of Harris to blog posts and essay responses truly helped me grow as a writer. (No, Eric, I'm not just telling you this because it is the kind of thing teachers like to hear). My writing style was much improved by the lessons learned at that bright and early 8am class three days a week. I can apply everything from this course to my remaining educational career. Not only has my writing style changed since the beginning of this course, but the way I read and interpret information has changed as well. I tend to take more notes, either mentally or physically, instead of just skimming an article or book passage. The news seems to interest me more than it had in the past, I will actually watch the news on a more regular basis and follow up on the news stories I find most interesting. I would provide one solid example as to how this course has impacted my reading and writing habits but there are almost 30 preceding blogs that contain all the evidence you should ever need. I find an obvious difference in my writing from when I wrote that first blog up until this final post and my extended essay.
11.22.2009
11.14.2009
Pick a Side...Any Side
The term taking an approach is only slightly more difficult than the name implies. Most simplistically, taking an approach is the stance you choose to take when writing in response to another individual's work. Harris defines taking an approach by outlining three key aspects for using the technique. They are, acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity.
Acknowledging influences basically means giving credit where credit is due. According to Harris there are three main ways (funny how he always outlines in threes) to give said credit to influences. You can evaluate common concerns faced by other writers, analyze methods and habits used by writers to outline and develop stories, or you can attempt to gain an understanding of the writing styles used. Turning an approach on itself would have to be one of the simplest, yet most difficult to grasp (at least for me), ideas. The foundation of this approach technique is to question, quite literally, EVERYTHING. You start with a general question on the subject and turn it into multiple specific questions on the topic until all sides of the issue are fully understood by the writer. Reflexivity is most easily defined as the author taking a look back on their work and evaluating decisions that could change the direction of the piece. This can include anything from language usage to the values and morals concerned when writing the story.
It is difficult to say news articles, such as those from the New York Times, take an approach because news writing is supposed to be unbiased. The only time it is truly acceptable to take a approach an article from one side or the other is when writing an editorial, but even then the writer has to be careful not to be too controversial. Newspapers tend to play it safe when approaching an article, unless approaching from one side would be logically impossible, or ethically repugnant. The blog I personally follow, The Ville Voice, is straightforward about their editorial and complaint/compliment system. While this blog gives you the facts with links to the source, they are not afraid to throw in their personal opinion, however harsh it may be. A prime example of this is in a story about the Louisville Metro Animal Services scandal and the stance Mayor Jerry Abramson takes on it. They say, "It’ll be a cold day in hell before Jerry Abramson takes responsibility for anything,". This blog is constantly negative about anything having to do with the mayor, obviously voicing a dislike for the fact that he has remained in office this long.
Acknowledging influences basically means giving credit where credit is due. According to Harris there are three main ways (funny how he always outlines in threes) to give said credit to influences. You can evaluate common concerns faced by other writers, analyze methods and habits used by writers to outline and develop stories, or you can attempt to gain an understanding of the writing styles used. Turning an approach on itself would have to be one of the simplest, yet most difficult to grasp (at least for me), ideas. The foundation of this approach technique is to question, quite literally, EVERYTHING. You start with a general question on the subject and turn it into multiple specific questions on the topic until all sides of the issue are fully understood by the writer. Reflexivity is most easily defined as the author taking a look back on their work and evaluating decisions that could change the direction of the piece. This can include anything from language usage to the values and morals concerned when writing the story.
It is difficult to say news articles, such as those from the New York Times, take an approach because news writing is supposed to be unbiased. The only time it is truly acceptable to take a approach an article from one side or the other is when writing an editorial, but even then the writer has to be careful not to be too controversial. Newspapers tend to play it safe when approaching an article, unless approaching from one side would be logically impossible, or ethically repugnant. The blog I personally follow, The Ville Voice, is straightforward about their editorial and complaint/compliment system. While this blog gives you the facts with links to the source, they are not afraid to throw in their personal opinion, however harsh it may be. A prime example of this is in a story about the Louisville Metro Animal Services scandal and the stance Mayor Jerry Abramson takes on it. They say, "It’ll be a cold day in hell before Jerry Abramson takes responsibility for anything,". This blog is constantly negative about anything having to do with the mayor, obviously voicing a dislike for the fact that he has remained in office this long.
11.11.2009
"Do I contradict myself? ...
...Very well then I contradict myself."
It was thoroughly difficult to choose which blog post I wanted to revise and contradict. There have just been too many. I finally decided to put some logic into the decision making process and chose the very first post I wrote for this class. Where better to start then from the beginning?
When I first reread this post I noticed the length difference when compared to my more recent posts. It seems I was definitely striving for no more then what was required. That has of course changed, I now find myself attempting to put a personal cap on my posts so I do not end up boring everyone who happens to read them. I have to say that I still agree with most of my "Blogs In the World" post, but I have a new found respect for bloggers everywhere.
Within the very first thought of this post I seem to imply that the actual writing aspect of the blog is not as difficult as generating a creative and attention-grabbing title or headline. WRONG. After the seemingly countless numbers of posts we have written I have come to realize that although the headline usually caught the attention of the reader, it is what is written in the blog, itself, that holds the reader's attention and inspires them to show others your blog. And what is the point of blogging if you do not have followers to share your opinion with? There really isn't one.
I completely agree with a statement I made in that first post, so long ago:
It was thoroughly difficult to choose which blog post I wanted to revise and contradict. There have just been too many. I finally decided to put some logic into the decision making process and chose the very first post I wrote for this class. Where better to start then from the beginning?
When I first reread this post I noticed the length difference when compared to my more recent posts. It seems I was definitely striving for no more then what was required. That has of course changed, I now find myself attempting to put a personal cap on my posts so I do not end up boring everyone who happens to read them. I have to say that I still agree with most of my "Blogs In the World" post, but I have a new found respect for bloggers everywhere.
Within the very first thought of this post I seem to imply that the actual writing aspect of the blog is not as difficult as generating a creative and attention-grabbing title or headline. WRONG. After the seemingly countless numbers of posts we have written I have come to realize that although the headline usually caught the attention of the reader, it is what is written in the blog, itself, that holds the reader's attention and inspires them to show others your blog. And what is the point of blogging if you do not have followers to share your opinion with? There really isn't one.
I completely agree with a statement I made in that first post, so long ago:
Blogging is more of a means of spreading information. Blogs tend to contain current event type information that pertains more to communities as a whole instead of just a certain small group of individuals. Blogs are synonymous to writing in that they are a means of putting ideas into society but through a webpage instead of paper.I would only have to expand on this by adding that the current event information that blogs discuss and spread depends on what news means to the blogger and their blogging community. If it is not important to the readers there is no sense in wasting time reporting it.
11.07.2009
Countering
Harris presents "countering" as an aspect to writing, along with his many other ideas. The idea of countering can be summarized fairly easily. Countering does not necessarily mean to disagree with an author's work, but offers three key points that can be used to counter a piece that you may still agree with. The first point is arguing the other side to show possible flaws in what the author is arguing for. The second point is uncovering values by analyzing an idea that was left unexplained to help bring better meaning to the argument as a whole. The final point is dissenting, or noting limits on a shared idea. Once these points are understood it becomes clear that countering does not have to be a disagreement, but a way to bring new perspective to a text.
A blog I follow, The Ville Voice, does not often use countering to convey a point, as forwarding articles they agree completely with seems to be more their forte. I was, however, able to find an article where countering was used to show the blogger, Jake's, opinion. The blog post, Told Ya So: Berman Wasting Your Money, discusses the Jefferson County Public School Superintendent, Sheldon Berman, wasting Louisville's tax money for personal use, such as travel. The original article from WHAS only mentions that Berman seems to be traveling more often, and discuss possible reasons for this sudden travel increase. Jake puts a personal spin on this article and argues all of the negative aspects of Berman's travel. He points out all of the places he has been traveling to, and how the only explanation is for personal reasons. I believe countering is a useful tool. It does not cause an article to lose or gain anything. When used properly, countering should really only be seen as a way of putting a new perspective on a semi-controversial article or topic.
A blog I follow, The Ville Voice, does not often use countering to convey a point, as forwarding articles they agree completely with seems to be more their forte. I was, however, able to find an article where countering was used to show the blogger, Jake's, opinion. The blog post, Told Ya So: Berman Wasting Your Money, discusses the Jefferson County Public School Superintendent, Sheldon Berman, wasting Louisville's tax money for personal use, such as travel. The original article from WHAS only mentions that Berman seems to be traveling more often, and discuss possible reasons for this sudden travel increase. Jake puts a personal spin on this article and argues all of the negative aspects of Berman's travel. He points out all of the places he has been traveling to, and how the only explanation is for personal reasons. I believe countering is a useful tool. It does not cause an article to lose or gain anything. When used properly, countering should really only be seen as a way of putting a new perspective on a semi-controversial article or topic.
11.05.2009
Forwarding
Joseph Harris mentions the idea of forwarding in his book, "Rewriting: How to Do Things With Texts". What this means is an author putting thier own spin on another's work. Anything can be forwarded, from the traditional texts that have been rewritten for various purposes, such as plays or for new understanding, to the modern, and fairly annoying, forwarded email.
Both of the blogs I am following constantly use forwarding as a way to spread thier news. My personal choice of blog, The Ville Voice, uses forwarding to convey news updates. Most of the time, when on of The Ville Voice contributers links a story they will add their own personal touch. Each day this blog opens with multiple headlines from the latest news updates, adding, a normally witty line, to make the story appealing. For example, on Wednesday, the title was "Wednesday Morning of Wasteful Spending and Such" one of the headlines, and custom leads, was, "Don’t let your kids trick-or-treat in Shively. Cause some dude may snatch them and pull them inside his house. You never know." This was in reference to the Courier Journal blog about how to keep safe when trick or treating on Halloween.
Almost all blogs use stories that have come from other references in order to insure the news will be spread to as many people as possible. If we were not allowed to use this idea of forwarding we would all have to be first hand witnesses to events that occur all across the globe everyday. It would also be much more difficult to develop our own ideas based on previous text and convey them through papers and such.
Both of the blogs I am following constantly use forwarding as a way to spread thier news. My personal choice of blog, The Ville Voice, uses forwarding to convey news updates. Most of the time, when on of The Ville Voice contributers links a story they will add their own personal touch. Each day this blog opens with multiple headlines from the latest news updates, adding, a normally witty line, to make the story appealing. For example, on Wednesday, the title was "Wednesday Morning of Wasteful Spending and Such" one of the headlines, and custom leads, was, "Don’t let your kids trick-or-treat in Shively. Cause some dude may snatch them and pull them inside his house. You never know." This was in reference to the Courier Journal blog about how to keep safe when trick or treating on Halloween.
Almost all blogs use stories that have come from other references in order to insure the news will be spread to as many people as possible. If we were not allowed to use this idea of forwarding we would all have to be first hand witnesses to events that occur all across the globe everyday. It would also be much more difficult to develop our own ideas based on previous text and convey them through papers and such.
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