#lrsa

Gender Trouble is hard for a reason. It is hard because things that seem simple – that seem to be commonsensical – are actually hiding something: that the naturalness of gender is a language that is composed of a whole host of occlusions. Gender is at the heart of how we make sense of the world, it is bound up with language, and there is something about queer sexuality that makes clear that the sense we make of the world is hinged on an apparatus of discipline, power, and a lot of things you can’t see until your worldview is messed with somehow and then either you can see them, or you become the screen through which other people see them. (And sometimes, when they see them, they freak out.)

- Excerpt Gender Trouble on Mother’s Day = Jordy Rosenberg

I took this excerpt to analyze because I felt it was important to note how we are so ingrained in our genders, that we don’t realize how it defines us. Within the last 5 years, I’ve made a conscious effort to remain gender-neutral in my writing and speaking. Now, it’s almost natural! Aside from the fact that I  refer to all drivers on the road as “him.” I still recognize that it’s based on negative gender norms, but it made me question if I have any other internal biases that I still have, and made me question why are we raised with these biases. As children, we use gendered language to reinforce male and female limitations that are simply unfair. Aside from the negative effects it has on our psyche, and how it reinforces female self-imposed-hinderance and hypermasculinity--It has come to a point where people become angry when others remain gender neutral because they feel it violates the nature of language itself!

Peer review:

While peer reviewing one of my classmates’ drafts, it occurred to me that truth is multifaceted and there is no such thing as “good” nor “bad.” Opinions aren’t facts, and I need to stop seeing the world as black and white - it hurts the rhetoric in my life and most definitely in my paper where I want to say doubt is good and certainty is BAD in terms of religion and celestial reasoning.

The imitation exercise was cool because imitating without the utilization of the same words or terms is super hard! Therefore, it made me realize that in order to imitate the style, sometimes, you’ve got to incorporate diction as well as grammar. I also thought that it was super interesting today how we covered that when working on a specific topic/theory/ideology that we may have to incorporate that genre’s specific jargon or diction. Sometimes, not all writers are being ‘exclusivists’ but rather, they are simply utilizing terms that state what they want to refer to succinctly. 

Also, in regards to playing catch up in class, it’s hard! This semester has changed my perspective of always getting “A’s” to sometimes being simply ‘acceptable’ is alright. I guess it also counts as a life lesson as well, sometimes things will happen that will not allow you to be 110% at all times, and it’s alright. Sometimes, just knowing that you’ve tried and are willing to try again is just as important. 

Planning on our presentation:

Planning for a presentation can be hard and tedious work, but it’s important to familiarize yourself with the materials before evening trying to teach it to another. I’ve already reached out to my groupmate, but as soon as time presents itself, I will be reviewing my chapter and finding helpful illustrations that clarified it to me, to show to the class as well.

As I was doing my midterm, I realized I have learned a lot more than what I initially thought. 

I have made great strides in rhetoric and revision, but so much in versatility. I will have to work on my own understanding of versatility by attending office hours as that seems to help me the most.

Versatility.

I feel like my talents have always been limited to language arts and that’s become quite a challenge to me in my information design class. I’ve never been a visual person and having to actually visually see where information is best on a publication is incredibly hard. I feel as if that class is incredibly difficult for me but I’m glad I’m aware of my flaws.

Revision

I actually think I’m getting the hang of the whole purpose of this class. At first, I was so confused and really thought this class would kill me as to I had no idea what “style” meant and could not connect classtime activities to the actual general idea behind the class. It took the will for me to have a discussion in order to clarify what style actually is and how it relates to rhetoric. Thus, conversation really allowed me to better my understanding of style and allows me to dive deeper into the more complicated aspects behind it.