A Scrapbook of My Writing
Minor in Writing: Writing 220
As junior year began, I had little idea about what to expect from Writing 220. All I figured was that we would be exploring the writing process and thinking about how we write. However, over the course of the semester I have learned far more about these ideas and more than I would have ever expected. Through many instances of reflection and workshopping, this gateway class motivated me to think more critically about my own writing and the choices I make whenever I set out putting a pen to paper or opening my laptop and continue to explore my position as a writer.
Why I Write
I've found that it's been one of the most difficult questions to answer this semester: "Why do I write?" Why? The question requires so much thought. I could tell you how I write -- usually curled up on my bed with my laptop and a waterbottle by my side. But of course, this question isn't so easy. It is the first step towards reflection on myself as a writer.
To capture my feelings about this, I had to look deeper into my motivations than I ever had before. And what did I find? I found an image of myself writing to make a difference, and to make sense of the confusing world that we live in. At that moment, I began to see more clearly the ways that writing has affected me and made me the person I am today.
Why I Write: To Remember Beautiful Moments Like This
Re-Purposing Project - "Who Am I?"
I struggled at first, as I always do, with the choices that are possible when starting a project. What singular piece of my work would I want to look at again, to reflect and re-structure this essay into a form meant for a new audience? I tried to consider what topics mattered to me the most, what sort of perspectives I held as I was writing the paper, and what would allow me the greatest ability to capture a new idea and evoke these factors in an engaging and interesting way.
Ultimately I decided to turn a personal narrative written during my freshman year surrounding race and acceptance into an educational essay for freshmen students. As someone who has experienced feelings of isolation because of their skin color, I was driven to reach out to students who may know very little about race in order to help teach all freshmen about the importance of acceptance and celebration of all races and social identities. Reflecting back to my own experiences freshman year, my living community in Northwood Apartments provided me with the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and experiences, which is something I will never forget. Capturing these memories, I hoped to help others learn more about their peers and themselves.
Our freshmen "Northwood Crew"
Go Blue!
Re-Mediation Project - "Recognizing Race"
After completing my essay based re-purposing project, our class was challenged to re-mediate our assignment into a different medium while maintaining the same audience. This project gave myself the opportunity to explore a variety of different technological features, such as iMovie, Prezi, and Lynda.com.
Ultimately I decided to create and screen-cast a Prezi presentation made for a hypothetical freshman seminar at the University of Michigan. With the goals of reaching freshmen in an engaging way and providing real-life applications to the concepts talked about in my re-purposing paper, my presentation centered a lot on campus specific issues involving race and resources.
In order to capture a sense of our campus' racial climate, I included a number of personal 30-second clips from students around campus who shared their perspectives about race and the University of Michigan. Their stories remind me of why I write: to capture a moment and make a difference, which I hope I was able to do with this project presentation.
Minor in Writing Blog
As a requirement in Writing 220, each student began blogging on the Sweetland Minor in Writing blog as a way to build our personal blogging personas and interact with other students across cohorts and the minor. These posts called for a significant amount of reflection on ourselves as writers, the ways in which writing style and technology can influence our decisions about our writing, and various other features that all play a role in the process of drafting.
Each of these posts reflect a specific moment of my ever-changing perspectives on writing as they were captured over the course of the entire semester.
To see my thoughts on many of these topics, click the button below.
Proud to be a part of the Sweetland Minor in Writing!
**Image not my own