Porter

Summary:  Porters article is about intertextuality. Intertextuality is the idea that all written texts contain traces of other texts. He also talks about how intertextuality, plagiarism has been happening all through out history. A few examples he gives are 1. a pepsi commercial, uses ideas from movies or iconic american ideas to make their commercial come across to viewers. and 2. the Declaration of Independence is nothing but a mix of authors ideas and structures put together. His audience in this article is students. 

Synthesis:  This article compares to a little piece of Allen where she talked about using a little bit of the organization of a piece of writing with her own information. I think this article really stands alone from others we have read so far. But I think that it had some good points and exposed somethings I wouldn't have thought of other wise.

Response	Quotation
I picked this quote because I thought that it was a summary of what the article was about, and I agree with this quote, It seems that no matter what text you look at there is always a part of another text incorporated.	"Not infrequently, and perhaps ever and always, texts refer to other texts and in fact rely on them for their meaning."
I liked the metaphor in this quote, comparing writing to a Cultural Salvation Army Outlet. It gave a visual to what porter is trying to explain about writing.	"Its system of languages, its grammar, its lexicon, drag along numerous bits and pieces -traces-of history so that the text resembles a Cultural Salvation Army Outlet with unaccountable collections of incompatible ideas, beliefs, and sources."
I thought this was an interesting idea. It seems so simple yet i had never thought of how our mind assumes what we dont know based on what a text says.	"refers to assumptions a text makes about its referent, its readers, and its context- to portions of the text which are read, but which are not explicitly "there"."
I picked this quote because this is a classic line that is in all kinds of writing. I thought it was a good example of how texts are used in other texts	""Once upon a time" is a trace rich in rhetorical presupposition, signaling to even the youngest reader the opening of fictional narrative. Text not only refer to but in fact contain other texts."
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most valued documents in our country so I thought it was interesting that even our most valued document isn't considered to be original. and the parts that were original were changed.	"To produce his original draft of the Declaration, Jefferson seems to have borrowed, either consciously or unconsciously, from his culture's Text."
When you read that two of them were women as the article says it becomes more of a tragedy, when phrased two of them men it doesn't have the same effect. Again it seems like such a simple thing but isn't something we think about when writing.	"two of them women" ............ but can we imagine the phrase "two of them men?"
I thought it was interesting how in this part of the article, it looked at how things were worded. When you read the clip of the kent state article, the wording is what adds tone or voice.	" Notice that the students were not shot by National Guardsmen, but were shot "by a volley of gunfire"."

Thoughts:  I liked porter's essay because Porter talks about how when writing you are always using other writings in your own writing in some way because there is no way you could make up your own new unique writing every time. I have always had this same thought, there are only so many ways you can say the same thing, eventually you are going to end up saying something or writing something that has already been said. 

Lamott, Kings, Diaz

Response	Quotation
Anne Lamott "Shitty first Drafts" I liked this quote right at the beginning because when I think of successful writers, I think that they have writing easy, that they always feel like they know exactly what they are doing. and reading this makes me know that is not the case.	"People ten to look at successful writers, writers who are getting their books published and maybe even doing well financially, and think that they sit down at their desk every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to tell"
This metaphor was a good way of describing the first draft of paper. because a first draft really doesn't matter how crazy it is or if it makes since, it's just a way to get ideas out on paper and have something to start revising from.	" The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pur out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later."
This is so true. because you may just be writing just to keep your mind thinking and then all of a sudden and idea clicks in your mind and then everything starts to come together from then on.	"There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what your supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go, but there was no way to get to this without first getting thought the first five and a half pages."
Stephen King "What writing is" This quote stuck out to me because it sounds like me. I always would carry a book around with me even in the car just for a 10 minute ride because you never know when you want to get lost in a different world a book can offer.	"I usually listen to one in the car and carry where ever I go. You just never know when you'll want an escape hatch."
I have read both kinds of books I laughed at this quote because of the joke he is making against Danielle Steel and Chicken Soup books.	"If I have to spend time in purgatory before going to one place or another, I guess ill be alright as long as there is a lending library (if there is it's probably  stocked with nothing but novels by Danielle Steel and chicken soup books...)"
I liked this quote because it made a good point. Authors and readers have a meeting of the minds when one is reading a book. As the reader reads the book, they are reading what the Author thought in there mind, in a way it is like reading their mind.	" We're not even in the same year together, let alone the same room... except we are together.  we're close. We're having a meeting of the minds. I sent you a table with a red cloth on it, a cage, a rabbit, and the number eight in blue ink. you got them all, especially that blue eight. we've engaged in an act of telepathy."
Diaz, " Becoming a Writer" I liked this story in general because I thought it was a story that everyone could relate to in one time of their life or another. Really struggling with something you were passionate about, not even writing necessarily. This could apply to any aspect of school, or sports. You don't become a great sports player if you dont keep trying even when it gets really hard and you feel like quitting.  I also think I shows how difficult writing can get at times and that even if it does you have to push through it as best you can. There is light at the end of the tunnel.	"Thats my tale in a nutshell. Not the tale of how I came to write my novel but rather of how I became a writer."  "you see in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope,  even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.

Elbow Voice in Writing Again Embracing Contraries

When constructing my identity on facebook I am conscious of what kind of image I display for myself. I only make posts if its something I think is important or that people will like. I dont post just to post like a lot of people do. Ive become more conscious of my pictures too. I only post ones that are most important or that I like the best. I think my facebook identity and home identity are pretty much the same. My facebook doesn't have pictures of me doing dumb or silly things because I dont need other people seeing that but obviously my family can see that in a home setting.


Summary: Peter Elbow's Article "Voice in Writing Again.." is about finding a voice in writing. In the beging he shows two sides of voice. The first side is from those that promote having a voice in writing. they say voice is important in texts and we should pay attention to it. the skeptics side is that we dont write with "voice"and that we mistake our selves in writing for a subject standpoint.  The audience in this article are students that are wanting to include their own style into their writing.

Synthesis:  I think Elbow's article could compare to a number of articles we have already read. One that comes to mind is Allen. I think it connects to Allen because she uses a lot of her own voice by adding personal stories to the article. They are discussing completely different topics but the concepts from Elbow about voice are seen n Allen's writing.

QD's

#1. I define voice has having your own opinions in an article. If you have a voice you are advocating for a cause. I think there are lots of definitions for voice. Another one would be to have a voice you are showing your own style. I think this one relates the most to what Elbow is saying. Voice is showing your identity in writing.

#4. I think that Elbow is playing his doubt/ believing game. And he plays it well, he discusses both sides of the argument to the point that its up to you which side you want to believe. The effect is that the audience then has to decide for them selves what the want to listen to.

AE#2 I think when listening to a passage you can focus more on what is being said or the stylistic choices a writer made. When reading the same passage you may be distracted by something little that didn't make since and when your listening you understand more of the big picture. I think listening to a passage could be effective, but at the same time I find listening to a tape sometimes harder to focus on than words on a page. I think the best of both worlds is listening to the passage while following along with the book.

Connecting to other readings.
Kleine says we adapt a scientific voice when we start to discuss facts and research. He says that we need to find a balance between hunting and gathering information, researching information, and discovering new information on their own. Elbow is about finding a voice in writing, when you are balancing the information you are writing about then it is easier to add your own voice in your writing.

MM:  I think its possible for both sides of Elbows voice to exist together. I think in order to achieve this though I believe you would need to focus on one side of voice first and then go back and add the other. One part that made since to me was when he said. " handwriting is more personal and body connected than typing. so handwritten words are often experienced as more voiced.  I think this is true If i write something first it feels like I have written it versus typing it first. I think this is where the balance is though, maybe you write your paper first with the "voice" and then when you are typing add the second " voice"

Thoughts: I thought the first 3 pages were interesting and engaging and then after that it just goes on for ever about reasons for the voice and not for the voice and it seemed really repetitive to me. I think Elbow inital thoughts on the voice and compromise are interesting though and could come in use.

Berkenkotter:

Before you read:  My writing rituals. I have to write it on paper first. If I sit down at my computer and try to start typing nothing happens. I could stare at the word document all day. When I have paper and a pencil I feel like I can start anywhere and write anything. When on a computer it feels more finalized paper and pencil seems more like the "writing stage".

Summary: Berkenkotter's Article Decisions and Revisions is about her study of Murrary and his writing process. Her idea was to have him record all of his mental thoughts aloud on a tape recorder while he when though his process. She took in over 120 hours of tapes as well as all of his drafts so that she could study the correlation between the two. Her audience is writers in general I think because she wants to make the point all writing processes are different, and its about finding what works for you to be the most productive.

Synthesis: I think this article relates to Kleine in that they both conduct experiments on their own to study the writing process of scholars. They both discover that you cant predict a persons process based on who they are or what they are writing about. Kleine focus is more on the researching aspect of the writing process and Berkenkotter's is more on the revision and editing. Both find that their studies have limitations

#1. Murray's writing process is different. He takes a lot of notes in a day book and then dictates to his wife, then reads the drafts, takes more notes and re drafts. His style is similar to mine in that I take notes when I am researching but way different in the way he dictates instead of writing it himself. Also I havent mastered the revising stage so I think he revises his drafts a lot more than I do.

#3. She learned that her ideas of revising could be changed after studying murray because he does it so much different than her.  Instead of making revision a separate step he combines it with planning into what is called reconceiving.  Reconceiving is to scan and rescan ones text from the perspetive of an external reader and to continue redrafting until all the style concerns have been resolved.

AE#1.  My own writing process could be a lot better. I get really flustered in the research stage that by the time I actually go to write my paper I really want to be done with it.  However, I think I do spend a good about of time revising, making sure the style of the paper is how I want it to be. Since I do more creative writing in my free time, styling a paper is more important to me. But by focusing more on style then I forget to edit and commonly make little mistakes that I shouldn't make

MM:  I learned that not everyones revision styles are the same, I think I can use that in my own writing by using the Reconceiving idea. to look at my draft over and over until all of the little problems are solved and make it the best work stylistically and edited.

Thoughts:
I thought that Her study was interesting. But even more interesting was Murrary's process itself. I think it was interesting that he includes planning and revising together. Also that he spends so much time evaluating the drafts over and over and over. I definitely think using some of his ideas could be beneficial in my own writing

Allen:

Before you read: When I think of a professional writer, or scholar. I think that their writing process is smooth and easy. I think that they know how they are suppose to write a paper, where to start, what to research, and how to organize and finalize their paper. I think their writing experience would be easy because they have done it so many times before that they would have a system for writing.

Summary: Allen's article The Inspired writer vs. The Real Writer is about the struggle writers have within themselves when writing.  Even the most experienced of writers have struggles. They in counter days where no words want to come out on a page called writers block. Another point in her article is that just because some one is a scholarly writer doesn't mean they always like writing and or are good at it. Her audience in this article are for students who feel their writing is not good enough or feel that good writing is hard to achieve. lastly she makes the point that weather a scholar or not everyone writes weather it be memos and emails and resumes and reports and thank you notes...etc.

Synthesis: This article ties into kleine because it talks about scholarly writers that struggle with their own writing. The difference is Kleines focus is on his colleagues, and their research methods. Allen's focus I think is more on a college student learning to get past the writers block that may occur and understanding that good writing doesn't come easy and the feeling that their writing isn't good enough is common among many others.

Questions for discussion.

#2. Allen says that one one will feel the "inspired writer" if they do not believe their writing to be good.  she says, " we often assume that if writing does not come easily, then our writing is not good and in turn we cannot be good writers" she also sys that   to find the "inspired writer" you have to work hard, and with practice in writing you may come to find it. 

#3. In the passed I have colluded when I have found piece of writing that I liked the organization or the idea behind it. I dont think it is plagiarism to take the structure of a piece of writing and use your own information in the structure. There are only so many ways to write papers as long as none of the information is copied I think it isn't plagiarism.

AE#2  Its important for writers to have a connection with what they are writing and to believe in their writing. Many writers feel that their writing is not very good, or that others writing is way better. when really the audience could be thinking that the writing is good. Also if the writer has a good connection with what they are writing, the piece of writing may come off as more confinent leading the reader to be more interested as well.

Thoughts: I thought that Allen's article was the better of the two for tonight. Hers was more engaging. I liked that she included personal stories that I could connect with. Also her article was more student appealing because im sure many of us feel that our writing isn't good enough or we have all been though writers block at one point or another in our school careers.

McCloud video response

After watching McClouds video I see comics in a different way. Before I saw them as something silly to read in the sunday newspaper. And now I see them as more complex way of telling a story. In the video McCloud talks about the 3 visions, Vision based on what one cannot see, Vision of something that is known or already proven, and third the Vision of something that can be based on knowledge but not yet proven. One of the interesting parts of the video is the online comic that starts as one story and branches out in to many stories depending which way you read it. He says that media gives us a way back into the world that we live in. And that its a way to escape in the story.

Berger, "ways of seeing"

Summary:

Ways of Seeing article is about how women and men are perceived differently. A mans presence is based on his ability to be useful, according to Berger if a man doesn't show a since of power then his presence is lost. A woman's presence is suppose to express her own attitude about her self. Her presence is seen through her expressions, voice , and opinions.  The article then goes on to explain the difference between naked and nude. A naked women is more personal with herself. where as a nude won is being seen by others.

Synthesis:  I think that Bergers article and McClouds article connect because McCloud's explains how we can only imagine what we look like around others but we never actually really know. and Bergers argument is that we can be certain of how we look and feel but have others see us a different way than we feel. 

#2:  We see posed women in the media everywhere. Advertisements, Magazines, movies, music videos, Advertisements today are generally not to show sexuality, however they do still promote the idea that women have high standards to live up to like the women in the Berger article. In the media we do have the nude women posing, such as play boy, sports illustrated swim suit addition,etc. these are similar in that most include showing some skin but covered in some areas. They are different in the way that in todays era they are ment to be more sexually provocative.

#3 I think the way Berger talks about a persons presence is the same now as it was in the 1970s, when you look at a guy you wonder if hes good a certain things, sports, handy work etc and you look at a girl as how she presents herself, the way she dresses , talks, and her actions if she dresses in a maner you dont particularly like then you most likely wouldn't talk to her. I think it is even worse in todays era than it was when the article was published in the 70's

AE #3 I would say the way a woman is positioned does effect the way the painting or photo is to be viewed. I think if she is looking out of the photo she is suppose to be showing desire and making the person viewing her to want her. I think that the amount of covering also says something about the way the photo should be perceived. If she is less clothed maybe its saying she trying to be more in touch with herself as a person. more comfortable in her own skin.

Meta moment:  I think the concept of nakedness and nude relates to writing because if you write a paper,consider it naked in your own mind and let every thing out in it, not hiding anything then it can be perceived as nude by other. like the painting, the woman in the painting feels naked in her own mind, but others would call her nude when they look at her. I think it is important to read something like this in order to understand the difference between what you are thinking in your head verus what others see or read.

Thoughts: at first I didn't understand what the point of reading that article was until I really thought about it.  It seemed a little weird to me, it wasn't a concept I had thought of before. Berger does a good job of making his points understandable.

Before you read: I have picked a picture of Channing Tatum and of Michelle Williams, In these photos Channing would be depicted as rugged, a good guy to have around. Michelle would be depicted as a delicate woman whom is very poised. The two pictures would be seen differently based on the viewer, girls are going to be drawn to the picture on the left, and guys the one on the right. Michelle picture shows skin but in a tamed way and is still showing sex appeal like the women in berger paintings.