#advancedcomposition

Going a step further and viewing it from Shipka's idea of multimodality we can see how our modern political discourse does not rely solely on written arguments but sound bites (clip-farming), visuals, and the framing of legal narratives. Policy is now a mediated performance. Assessing this article through these lenses has allowed me to see that power is not distributed solely based on legislation and policy but through the media ecosystem and rhetorical form it takes. This allows me to analyze law and politics from a different standpoint.

For this week I'd like to discuss my Electracy Memory Box for the non-digital project. I chose the electracy memory box. The memory box is centered around the idea that the Medium is the Massage, I made this the center (or top) of the box because even though it begins with Ulmer, McLuhan has conceptualized electracy and carried the torch. This box is multimodal because it echos the concepts of several thinkers who all follow in the footsteps of McLuhan. Shipka asks us to think beyond words and consider how materials and art can convey meaning. Each item is a rhetorical tool from shapes, ads, stickers, notes, strings, and chains. The memory box is an electrate space that brings fragments, emotions, and visuality together to represent how electracy shows up in various ways. Instead of focusing on one particular thought or argument the box invites us to interpret and navigate the world of electracy as we choose. Overall, I really enjoyed making this project and I feel like its the first time I truly enjoyed composing something all semester. Thank you for prompting me to engage with coursework in this way.

This week we explored Jody Shipka's writing Towards a Composition Made While. This writing helped me deepen my understanding of what it means to be a writer. Shipka argues that multimodal writing's extend beyond digitilization. This in so many words mean that writing doesn't simply live on a screen. It has several forms including but not limited to physical, emotional, and performative forms. Composition should be understood as how we engage with the world around us. Shipka's attention to non-digital multimodality connects to how I've began assesing my personal statement. My personal statement is my own multimodal project which extends beyond words on a page. It is a reflection of my experiences, values, and principles. Non-digital multimodality also teaches me that writing involves emotional processes when creating. In relation to my personal statement, I have utilized sticky notes, pie charts, and maps to highlight important moments within my collegiate experience. These are forms of composition that I believe Shipka would appreciate as a part of making my writing "whole."

This week I am doing a free write about how the different topics we've discussed in this course have impacted my writing capabilities and style. Each thinker we've discussed have inspired me to think differently and write with another purpose. From Lanham, who inspired me to write from a space that captures the readers attention throughout my writing. McLuhan has inspired me to focus on different methods of communicatting and utilize the new methods of teaching to my advantage. These writers have reshaped my approach to writing especially as I work on my personal statement. Before taking this course I thought my personal statement needed to be centered around clarity and simplicity. But I view my personal statement now as a final performance to undergrad and an opening night for law school. A performance where structure, rhythm, and style work together to engage those who read my story. This class has reminded me that wtiging can be creative and still maintain it's seriousness and that I should view my writings as a form of artistic expression.

In Sirc's text English Composition as Happening he invites us to think of writing as more than a structured argument and as a form of expressive art. I find this to be inspiring and also informative, this provided me with a new way of looking at how we categorize writing. When we as writers view composition as art, we treat it as art and open up endless possibilities for the stories and places our writings take people. I think comparing writing to visual art is an important framework in composition. When I think of this I think back to all the times I would read books and watch the movies to compare the details, emotions, and themes between the two. This is one example of how we can compare visual art to writing. Visualizing writing helps us to create an experience based on sensory. It takes the writing off of the paper and shows us that it is happening. That it is something that is alive and something that we can participate in.

In our reading for this weeks instruction, we explore Richard Lanham's book Style: An Anti-Textbook. Lanham pushes us as readers to reassess what we classify as "good writing." Especially in a age and time where attention holds more value than content itself. Lanham stresses that it is important for writers to not only inform people but captivate their attention. This connects especially to the Medium is the Massage because it reminds us that presentation is just as important as the content itself. Lanham's ideas challenge the traditional academic principle of clarity and substance in writing. Lanham's principles affirms our previous readings especially aligning with Ulmer's electracy and McLuhan's ideas from the Medium is the Massage. It is apparent that in our current society the sizzle defines the steak.