Something Catchy

We learn to understand ourselves, by explaining ourselves to others.

Kathleen Yancey

(aka the mother of reflection and literacy)

Reflecting upon this class I can honestly say never have I had so much creative- busy work to do before in one class. Yet all these blogs and projects have given me a better understanding of who I am as a composer and reader. I can tell instantly whether or not I will suffer through an article from the first paragraph and when something is going to be especially intriguing to me. The project have made me think outside of the box. Any ordinary project would not suffice, especially since the majority of the class projects deal with technology and its endless possibilities.

When my mom asks what I'm doing in class I tell her all about it. From definitions to projects, it's said. And generally I have to give explanations so listing the definitions of what all these terms mean to me is easy! Rhetoric is effective communication, as Bitzer said and each theorist has his/her own set of characteristics and definitions to go along with the grand theory of Rhetoric. My favorite part of rhetoric is Invention where you need to "see the available means of persuasion in each case." The most influential aspect is delivery for it is here that an idea is accepted or rejected.

On a whole, no topic can top Remediation in my opinion. It was completely intriguing and I absorbed the information like a sponge! The idea of taking one medium and transposing it into another has always been around and is clearly visible in today's entertainment options, but I never realized all the possibilities one has when it comes to creating!

While Bolter and Grusin's book may be a little out dated, it speaks truths and facts. From their book I have now added the term hyper-mediacy into my vocabulary and can now talk about technology's insane presence in our lives and know what I'm talking about. [It also helps to have a legitimate term to throw around]. Remediation has been around longer than computers, for example the book mentions the Cottingly Fairies. I saw this movie when I was a kid but it all makes sense now. I could not understand why people were getting so mad over not finding these fairies that posed with the little girl, they are Fairies and had a right to be selective in choosing who to pose with. After reading the book I realized that the girls cut out pictures from a book and took a picture with them (clever). This is a form of remediation and the movie is a remediation of the story. Remediation and hyper-mediacy are everywhere!!

Reflection fits into composing almost as important as research does. Sure you can research and find facts, but it helps to find facts that speak to you. When I write research papers and have an option of which document to use, I read each one until I find one that leaves a resonating feeling with me, especially if its disagreeable. A person can write about anything, but its the best stories and paper that express feelings and legitimate opinions from its writer. After reading and generating an opinion, I think 'okay why do I feel this way? What in my opinion should be done.'

Someone once said that knowledge is innate, we just don't take advantage of it. It's like the theory of 'mothers instinct' where a Mom just automatically knows something and cannot justify why or how she knows it. It leave people perplexed. Even though it's innate, people learn all the time and add to their original knowledge and rework it with every new piece of information. I always have been able to read a sentence and rework it into something much better (if it needs work). My friends ask me to review their papers because I can always take the most basic sentence, add a few words and create a sentence 10xs better. It may be an innate gift, but it also comes from a love of reading books. After reading so many, I can just tell what a sentence needs. This class is adding to my knowledge of editing and creating a whole new category of media topics and mediums for me to work with.