Writ 1122

To me, writing has many different facets

As well as many different objects

Different genres require different approaches

For different readers with different emotions

Injecting humor I think is paramount

Otherwise your reading will be discount(ed)

This will keep the reader engaged

And prevent them from becoming enraged

As well as keeping word choice simple

Pick and interesting topic that isn’t fickle

Understanding the different genre conventions

Is quite important might I mention

Not the same format for your boss and your friend

For that email you’re about to send

Having some passion makes it easy

To write without sounding cheesy

All of these factors come together

To make your writing even better

Reflection:

My last theory of writing made some very good points (what can I say I’m a pretty smart guy) and there isn’t really anything I would take out of it at this point but just more that I would add to it, so here it goes.

Writing is about understanding the audience you are trying to reach, and then using the appropriate genre and genre conventions to reach them. By understanding who your target audience is it allows you as the writer to use specific writing conventions to make your piece as appealing as possible to that audience. By understanding what your audience wants you can also make the piece very engaging to them, as you can tailor all the facets of your piece, such as word choice and sentence structure, to your audiences preferences. Additionally, it is easier to add humor that is okay for your piece if you understand the audience and what type of humor they want/will tolerate. Through an understanding of your audience’s independent preferences, you can maximize your potential as a writer. 

The outline of my map starts in the middle, and the begins in the top right and circles clockwise. Some of the pictures aren’t the best and have been cropped weird because of the collage app but just go with it. 

1. My map starts with word choice which I think is very important to any writing piece. With a vending machine you have a lot of different choices to choose from, but there is one distinct winner depending on your mood. That is very similar to how each genre calls for different word choice (like each mood calls for a different vending machine item). Then, I go to context, which is very important for any writing piece. It is the background of any piece, and I took a picture of a bunch of foreign languages, which are the backgrounds of different people around the world. having context is essential to any writing piece as it allows the reader to develop a better understanding of what you are trying to convey to them. My next point on the map is humor, which I think goes hand in hand with engagement (coming later). By adding humor to a writing piece it makes it more memorable, for me at least. A good example of this is with Mark Manson’s book and how he uses humor in it which allows his points to truly stick. I found a chalk ad for an Open Mic Night for comedy which I think is less a symbolic representation of humor and a more physical one. Next on the map is genre, and for that I chose the soccer field. At the beginning of the year we talked about how writing is a lot like basketball, but I think it can be compared to soccer as well. Different aspects of writing represent the different parts of soccer that you need to practice. For example you use a different technique for shooting than you do for short passing just as you write differently for a senior thesis than you do a children’s book. The last point on my map is the free speech wall, which I think represents engagement. In order for people to see what you write on the free speech wall, it must be engaging to the people walking by, otherwise nobody will pay attention to it. 

2. There are 3 points on my map that were also on my last map: humor, engagement, and word choice. These are the 3 parts of writing that I have always thought important and this class has not changed that. However, as we have progressed through this class I have realized the importance of genre and context in writing as well, which is why they are significant parts of this map. Back in week 3 I didn’t really understand how different the other genres were in terms of different writing conventions, and I didn’t understand the significance of a strong context. 

1. My first moment was with the murder, rhetorically speaking assignment. This assignment really allowed me to have a wow moment where I realized a lot about writing in different genre conventions for different audiences, and how I actually knew a lot about how to do that. Prior to this assignment, I found it difficult to write genres for audiences that I lacked experience writing with, and I struggled to use the correct genre conventions but with this assignment something sorta clicked and I was able to easily write the other genres with their specific audiences. 

2. The second moment I had was with the Blitzer reading and the discussion afterward, when we were talking about how all reading has rhetoric. This really blew my mind and I didn’t fully understand it till I had some time to think about it. The part that most confused me was children’s books because i had no clue how those could have rhetoric, but eventually I figured it out. This reading and discussion was actually really important because it opened my mind to the new possibilities of the writing world, as previously I thought that I knew everything I needed to know, but this lesson taught me there was so much more.  

3. The third moment I had in class was during our revision vs. editing reading and discussion, and I learned that I never truly revise my papers. Sure I will edit them for mistakes and maybe change some sentence structure around, but I never have the motivation to read over it and make some drastic idea change. Another big reason I don’t change my ideas while reviewing papers is because I think that my idea is right so there is no need to really change it. I’d probably be lying if I said that moving forward now I am always going to truly revise my papers and change the ideas, but it is something I will keep in my mind and think about, and try to work in some way or the other. 

Detective:

At approximately 11:00 pm I received a call informing me that a body had been found at a parking garage downtown. I proceeded to drive there to investigate the scene of the crime. I entered the garage and noticed the positioning of the body. The victim was lying down on his chest in a pool of dried blood. I counted around 7 large stab wounds with numerous smaller ones. There were obvious signs of foul play, as the victim had bruises on his knuckles, indicating he was recently involved in a physical altercation, as well as there was skin under his fingernails. The victim is missing his left ear however, which could be the perpetrators signature. Everything about this scene points toward a murder. My best estimate is that the perp and our victim had some sort of verbal altercation that turned physical, with the victim then attempting to flee. The perp then caught up to him and tackled him from behind, and repeatedly stabbed him. I believe these events call for further investigation. 

Coroner:

I pin the time of death on the body to be around 10:35pm on June 6th. Upon receiving the body, I initially noticed something weird. The stab wounds had almost all different dimensions and depths, implying either an uncertain attacker or multiple perpetrators of different strengths. Upon examining the stomach contents I noticed something strange. There was a little slip of paper in his stomach, although the stomach acid had made this paper illegible. Additionally, the victim hard abrasions along his esophagus from some form of acid that appeared to be forced down his throat. While the victim was stabbed 39 total times, it appears the cause of death was actually drowning, as there was a significant amount of water in his lungs. It is possible the victim was “dry drowned” with anesthesia, and then was taken to the garage and stabbed multiple times. There is also a lot of abrasions along the victims wrists and ankles, implying some sort of tough restraints were placed on his wrists and ankles that he fought. Overall, there are definite signs of foul play meriting a full scale investigation. 

Eulogy:

Mark Smith was a friend to all. He brightened the world around him and would always try to put a smile on others faces. It is a real tragedy that he was taken from us so soon. He was one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met, and I am so glad that I am able to look back on times I spent with Mark and laugh about memories and experiences I had with him. I’ve known Mark since I was young child, and he has always been a very dear friend of mine. Over all the years of knowing him, I never had a dull moment with Mark, which is probably one of the biggest reasons that I will miss him. It is always upsetting when someone dies young, but it is even more when they are as good of a person as Mark. Not a day will go by where I don’t think about Mark, and the influence he had on my life, and he will truly be missed. 

Prosecutor:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, all the evidence points toward the accused committing heinously brutal acts of violence against the innocent victim. The victim’s friends and family have all spoken volumes to his character and the lack of detractors in his life says a lot about the character he was. For such a good man to be taken so young for no reason by a violent criminal, there must be a punishment that fits the hefty weight of this crime. While making your verdict I implore you all to think about what the world lost with Mark, especially those closest to him. 

Discussion:

1. I found the detective piece the easiest to watch, because I have watched a lot of police TV shows ranging from the comedy Psych to the more serious and dark Criminal Minds. Watching a lot of these shows has led me to internalize a lot of the detective jargon that the detectives use when they are summarizing crimes. 

2. I thought that the eulogy was the hardest to write because it required talking a lot about the character traits of Mark Smith, who I didn’t personally know, so I had to make those up which was difficult for me. 

Lucas:

1.      What is the Arugment?

a.      The argument is how big the movie and Tv industry is and what affect that has on kids. I know this because that’s what the main focus of the article is, scrutinizing the TV industry and the message it is portraying to today’s youth.

2.      Ethos Pathos and Logos

a.      The author identifies the ethos by talking about the negative effects TV and movies can have on kids as well as the positive.

b.      He identifies the pathos by talking about how these shows and movies impact a young kids goals in life.

c.      He identifies the logos by using examples of movies and shows and sharing the positive and negative effects each had on a young child.

3.      Do you believe the author?

a.      Yes I believe the writer because he makes some points that don’t really need scholarly source backup. When he brings up the points of Marvel movies being a positive influence on kids because it demonstrates how kids should use the power they have to drive positive change and do good things in the world, it isn’t necessarily something I had thought of before but I totally see, understand, and agree with the point.

4.      How does the writer reacher his audience

a.      The writer reaches his audience by using conversational tones and language. This really makes it feel like a column and also the content of the column makes it feel sorta like it belongs in a parental advice column, as it talks a lot about kids and positive and negative impacts on them.

5.      Two Things To Work on

a.      Grammar

b.      Adding some more specific examples of movies and TV shows and their effects

6.      Two things that are working well

a.      I like the examples a lot and how you talk about how the themes and events of the movies impact the goals and behavior of the youth (which is why I think you should add more)

Transferring knowledge and/or learning is one of the core components of writing, as I believe it to be the main goal of writing itself. Whether you are writing a business report, children’s book, or tumblr post, in the act of writing you are sharing knowledge and/or learning you have gathered and then sharing it with your intended audience. While I know that we have been giving high school teachers a hard time for only teaching and grading the five paragraph essay, I think it is beneficial for students to really have that format cemented into their brains. Not necessarily the format itself, but one of the keys to getting a good grade on a five paragraph essay is knowing what your teacher wants to see and making sure you include that in your essay. This essential skill translates to all forms of writing, as you want to figure out important aspects of the genre that your intended audience wants to see and make sure to include them in the writing piece. I came across a good example of this on the internet a few weeks ago, when I saw some article talking about how Trump’s advisors have noticed that he pays better attention to written briefings when he is personally mentioned, so they will make the briefings include his name as much as possible to keep him interested. 

My theory of writing puts a large emphasis on engagement. Everything I believe about writing is that it should be geared toward keeping the reader engaged, and that looks different for different audiences. Another key part of keeping the reader engaged is based upon the subject itself. As Blitzer talked about, every writing piece is a response to a rhetorical situation, and making sure that you write about an interesting situation is one of the biggest ways to keep an audience engaged. It also helps keep the audience engaged, at least in my opinion, if there is humor in the reading, and the word choice is interesting and vivid but it’s not overly complex. The purpose of writing is for the audience to read and understand everything you have written, and by keeping a writing piece light, engaging, and funny it will keep the reader captivated until the end.

One Theory, Two Theory, Red Theory, Blue Theory, by Max Sanson

What is the most important part of writing you ask? Keeping the reader engaged is your task! Use an interesting subject and add some humor, is how to captivate your piece’s consumer. Flimflam the reader into liking your writing and then their will be a lot less fighting. Having an engaged reader is key, trust me and try it and then you’ll see. I’m almost out of rhymes up in my head, oh well I guess that it’s time for bed.