Flexibility of Voice

The writing implement of a crayon did affect the writer. Half-way through his argument, he changed from an orange crayon to a black pen. I believe that he may have felt inhibited intellectually by the crayon. In fact, his over-all argument was rather short. With crayon, he wrote bigger than he did in pen. I'm not talking about the thickness of the lines, which would be expected to be larger in crayon, but the size of each letter. When he switched to pen, not only did his font get smaller, but he also began incorporating script with print writing. When the writer used the crayon, he wrote completely in print.

The writer's creativity was ultimately not stifled, as shown by his picture on the reverse side of his paper (see previous blog post). The argument itself was good, and the writer proved his point and supported it with clear examples.

Advice for those starting out

One can have a superb vocabulary and amazing diction, but without the proper grammar, the writing can be God-awful and a headache to read. Ergo, I plead that one will respect punctuation. Know your commas and your semi-colons. Keep the same voice throughout the piece and don't stray off topic. If you are writing creatively and have an army of original characters, keep them in character. Develop their personalities, their strengths and their weaknesses. If the reader wants to connect to your character, they can't be perfect because, well, no one is perfect. Likewise, the writer must search themselves for their own flaws and work towards ultimate improvement.

Practice won't harm either. How can one improve without practice? "Practice makes perfect," after all. Practice with different styles--experiment. Learn how to manipulate words to adapt to a variety of situations. Don't be afraid to cross taboo boundaries, either. Write a steamy love scene or about a morbid homicide. Go all out. Play with different possibilities.. Most of all, don't be afraid of the reader. You are supposed to manipulate them, not the other way around. Control them, change their state of mind with your words. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Twitter as a Writing Space

I had a twitter account before we were told to make one for this course. However, I only made one because I lost a bet. I, like many others, thought that twitter was stupid. Why? Because of the limited writing space, of course. But, as I began to tweet, I discovered that the writing limit is what gives twitter its unique charm.

Twitter is made for short snippets of information. Most tweets are silly and irrelevant, announcing what one had for dinner or when one showered that day. There are other times when a tweet holds a lot of emotion.  Tweeting, "I hate you," or "I'm glad I made that call," can have so many different meanings to the reader who doesn't know what the tweets refer to. Tweets can be powerful and meaningful, or virtually useless. It all depends on how the user chooses their words. In a limited writing space, every word counts.

Wearing Text

Clothing:

Often, a person wears text on a shirt to proclaim their interest in a particular fandom. This may be in the form of a band-tee or something else one could buy at their local Hot Topic retailer. Usually, references can be obscure if one doesn't know the inside jokes of said fandom. With sweatshirts, people announce their membership to some kind of community, such as a club or university. We don't see much text on pants unless it deals with showing off a brand name, like Juicy Couture or Victoria Secret's Pink. Text on clothing is something we don't think too hard about. In fact, we usually stay away from text unless the article of clothing was a gift or if we're really into the fandom portrayed. 

Skin:

Skin is a different story. When getting tattooed, one has to keep in mind that theie words can't be shed, unlike a piece of clothing. Therefore, the words usually have a deeper and more symbolic meaning to the wearer. They can't be taken off and shoved into the back of a closet, only to be found twenty years later to sell at a garage sale for more money than its worth because it can labeled as 'vintage'. 

Four Letter Word Video Final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMz2C-k5Vus&feature=youtu.be

There was a glitch from :27-:29 when uploading to youtube. It, for some bizarre reason, made the video of the French girl longer than the repeated picture of the cycle of life. This really irks me because I made all the "cycle" pictures last longer, like you recommended, but now it's buggin' out on me. My apologies! I tried! Youtube hates me. Boo.

The Problem with Describing Trees

"It is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant us."


The whole point of writing is to use words in a manner to appeal to the reader, whether it may be in the case of presenting an argument or describing a white-picket fence. Poetry often uses words sparingly and gives them rhythm, which separates it from other styles of writing. Poetry also abuses metaphors and similes to present a theme in a way that makes it sound flowery and melodic.  In this way, poetry can make the reader appreciate a flaming pile of compost easier than a narrative within a novel.

What Hass is trying to point out in his poem, though, is that we don't always need to attempt to beautify what we're describing, Often, especially in nature, what we are describing is already so clear and magnificent that it doesn't need an explanation.

Stephanie Meyer's vampires glitter, trees do not.
Hugh Jackman dances, not a tree.

Trees don't do these actions, but we romanticize what they really do to appeal to the reader. A tree also doesn't speak and most people don't have conversations with them (at least those who are considered "normal" by society's standards). "Dance with me, dancer," if directed towards the tree, just sounds silly. Furthermore  having the tree respond, "Oh, I will," sounds even more absurd.

Dexter Typography

I found out recently that the Dexter fandom like to express their love for the show through different kinds of media, such as typography! Here are two of my favorite examples :)