Context & Reflections
Evolutionary Essay: This piece was written for the capstone course within the minor in writing. The prompt instructed for the piece to analyze our development as a writer throughout the program--whereas I chose to compare my writing before entering the program versus my writing now. As exemplified within the piece, the main difference identified within my writing is the idea of the writing process. Before training within the minor in writing program, I lacked the concept of research throughout my pieces, and instead, would declare personal opinion as fact--without actually knowing much about the topic aside from my own beliefs. This piece allowed me to investigate the differences within my writing, using past writing as evidence--such as my directed self placement essay before entering Michigan, an article written for Uloop News during my freshman year, and comparing those works with a more recent research based piece analyzing Instagram. Overall, the evolutionary essay serves as a greater reflection in itself, as it afforded me the opportunity to analyze my growth as a writer, and see the changes made throughout my process for the better.
Capstone Project--Ann Arbor Amateurs: The Ann Arbor Amateurs food blog was inspired by my inexperience with food writing. I've always loved food and I've always loved writing, but had never combined the two aspects. The instructions for this piece within my final capstone course in the minor in writing program was to chose a long-term, research based project that allowed me to enter a specific scholarly/creative conversation happening in the world and to contribute to that conversation. With this in mind, I was inspired to tap into a new genre that I hadn't experimented with much, and to be able to not only engage in food writing, but also practice design and organizational aspects. This project allowed me to identify a specific audience that I could personally relate to--college students--and tap into a distinct conversation: eating on a time and monetary budget. With these ideas in mind, I was able to specify my project to the Ann Arbor area and highlight simple recipes and even the closest grocery stores and restaurants for students to check out. Through keeping a conversational and 'young' tone (incorporating sarcasm and collegiate activities) throughout the piece, I was able to create a space both verbally and visually for college students to access.
Why I Write: The Why I Write assignment was the first project of the semester within the minor in writing gateway course. As we sat in a room full of strangers, all linked by an apparent interest in writing, we were asked exactly why writing appeals to us. The assignment syllabus listed the objective for the assignment as "to explore the statement why I write and to come up with a provisional – yet, for the moment, true – response. A sub-objective of this project is to begin to think more deeply about the goals you have for yourself as a writer that you might begin to achieve in this class and in the minor." And with such objectives in mind, I attempted to break down and analyze the main components within my desire for writing--eventually, I narrowed it down to three main concepts: Meditation, Audience, and Empowerment. This piece was one that allowed me to fully experiment with the ideas of revision and peer reviews. Throughout this process, many different revisions and restructuring of the piece were made, signifying the importance of continuing to work on a piece of writing and bettering it. I wanted to include this piece within my capstone portfolio to not only add context about myself as a writer, but to highlight the importance of process (research, revision, review) which has been distinguished within the minor.
Instagram and the Popular Page: This piece was written for an upper level writing course within the communication studies department, titled Digital Media Studies. This research-based class allowed me to pick a topic of interest within the media industry and study a new idea about it through analyzing the interface, social roles, and its overall usage. With this in mind, I chose to investigate the Instagram interface--which I already spent too much time on as a leisurely activity. Through a deeper analysis, I began to notice the sexualized images of Caucasian women displayed, highlighting these photos as the height of femininity. My argument for this piece was that the Instagram interface determined likes as popularity, and in turn, highlighted sexual images of Caucasian females as determinates popularity and femininity. This semester-long project allowed for the deeper investigation into typical media applications that many of us use everyday, but turn ignorant to its effects on society. Through the incorporation of scholarly articles and previous experiments, I was able to form a strong argument on the messages of Instagram overall. This allowed me to not only implement research methods into my writing, but also to continue a productive process change to my overall writing.
Resume: My resume--seen under the 'About' section, was constructed within my professional writing class--linked to the minor in writing. This class in general was interesting, as it focused on career based writing; writing pieces such as resumes, cover letters, and personal statements. While one may not think of a resume as a piece of writing--as I didn't before entering the class--it was unique to learn about the different structural elements and wording to make a resume stand out and read as a significant piece of writing. By studying alternative syntax and diction, I was able to identify areas in which I needed to either simplify or incorporate alternative language in order to fully describe past professional experiences. Additionally, the construction of the resume allowed me to analyze was what necessary to include versus fluff experiences--since it should all fit on one page. I thought this piece was important to include in my final capstone portfolio due to its addition of a new tone and genre of writing, and identifying the idea that writing is an intricate part of everyday experiences.
