Writing Discussion

 Writing for the Audience

    When thinking about a blog post for this week I could not get something off of my mind. What happens when conforming happens? What does that do to writing? And is this something good, bad or neutral? I honestly cannot tell you all of these answers but I can tell you one point of view from infinite points of view. 

    There has been a shift in popular culture in the past 5 years that has effected all sorts of media. Music, movies and news but more specifically, journalism. Although I am not that well versed in the journalism world, I can see that there is some hesitation to write or comment on stories but merely go along with the masses. Now, Let me tell you that just standing up and saying what you want is not an easy thing. But, it is not what you want to do or be even. I believe, it is the art of journalism to write about things that other people do not what to talk about or even discuss amongst themselves for fear of  someone getting offended or upset. However, when writing about stories I believe it hinders your creative freedom as a writer to not write about these things. If someone were to write all about how things are great (hypothetically speaking), people would think two things, that you are delusional or under pressure to write about things that you particularly disagree with. We all know writing or giving a speech on something you don't like means not much if any effort will go into what you are writing about. this lack of creativity if so frustrating to people.  

    With all of this negativity that comes from conformity with writing, is this good, bad or just neutral? Well is what good? is conforming good for a writer? In my opinion, no. There is just too much wrong for a writer to conform than there is right. Is conformity good for society? Well, that's more of a different question for a different day. However, what I will say is that some people do not like change and some do. And, in these changing times, conformity is seen as a good thing by societal standards. With all of this being said, overall, is conformity good bad or neutral? I think conformity is in the eye of the beholder. If they want to write about what they want to write about, that that's great. If not, then that is okay too. 

The Strange Situation of Sue

 Dinosaur 13

   In April of 2021, I traveled to the field museum with my parents during spring break. It was a very cool experience where I saw fossils of all kinds. Ranging from the Paleozoic to the Cenozoic and from animals like the eurypterids to the genus Ursus which contains modern day bears. But one of the most fascinating things that I witnessed while there was Sue; the female tyrannosaurus rex. 

 

To the left here, is sue herself in the flesh (I mean rock). Why rock? Well because these bones have been in the ground for so long, the minerals in bone have all but disappeared and rock has slowly began to form around these bones. Causing theirs brownish almost black color. But this is about Sue herself and how she got from the hell creek formation of the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota to right in form of me in Chicago. Lets wind the clock back to 1990. Sue Hendrickson was the person how found this remarkable find. Then, a paleontologist named Peter Larson who led the excavation placed the dinosaurs remains in a museum in near Hill City, South Dakota. 

Although this was merely just the beginning of the documentary, I will save my summary and analysis for later. Watching this documentary, I was surprised how ruthless the FBI was. To sum it up, the FBI claim that the excavation of bones was done on federal land and thus was the property of the federal government. Larson and his colleagues were charged with numerous crimes during a 1995 trial and according to Larson himself "If you add up the time served for each of those counts, it comes to 353 years for me. . .which is longer than Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to prison for, and he killed and ate, like, 15 people." As someone who whishes to be a paleontologist with my degree, it certainly bring into perspective the risks that comes with digging up fossils. One minute you realize that this is one of the most complete and largest finds of the time and on the other, you are being indited for conspiracy and custom violations. I knew I was going to like this documentary as soon as I turned it on and I am glad I was able to gain a new perspective of the inherent dark side of this career. 

Idea Exploration

 Writing Discussion 

    Just last night, I was reading a book titled "Life on Earth" by David Attenborough. By reading this book, it made me not only learn interesting information about life on planet earth, but also I was thinking about different ideas to write about. 

    Writing about things that you find interesting is one of the joys that comes with writing (sometimes). Creative freedom can both be a playing field of ideas or it can be a hinderance. But to start with the good things (and to what I was think about when reading), someone's own creativeness when they have something in mind, has no bounds. Free-writing is a great way to get ideas down onto the page. Sometimes I will write down things that may sound interesting and I build ideas off of that. However, as I have said, it can also be a hinderance. With all of this freedom to formulate ideas and write about those as you please, coming up with them can be a frustrating task or a time sink if you're trying to write something down on your own. Many might call this a "writer's block". 

Yet, everyone is different. Everyone has their own way of formulating ideas. Take the microtheme for example. While coming up with my topic, I was torn between choice A and choice B. Both proved themselves to be things I would be interested to write about. So, where do I go form here? Well,  I used what I like to call my "map planner" or "idea map". Using the central circle as my big focus, I started to write out and list subpoints that could be used in my microtheme. Then, by using elimination, I managed to differentiate the two topics from which one worked better (it was very slim and took too much time).  However, as I said before, not everyone is the same in how they approach these things. These were just the way that I generate ideas for myself. 

 

Writing Discussion

 Microtheme Ideas 

    When starting to write just about anything, I like to sit down and brainstorm ideas that would seem relevant to me and to my audience. But, when I go and submit something, it is never always correct in its delivery. What I mean is that there is always something missing when it comes to writing about something I care about and/or making that subject resonate with audiences. 

Resonating with audiences is only half of what makes something good. The story or the paper has to have sustenance too. I think that is one of the main driving forces of the microtheme project. The other is making sure that the problem you are presenting affects those around you too. Something that people can relate to is important when the writer want to use pathos, ethos and/or logos in their writing. By using a subject that people can relate to and emotion or logic or ethics or a combination of the three, the writer can take the audience anywhere if they have them hooked. 

In essence, this project is about expressing ones view on a subject, but, leaving the subject open to different expressions/interpretations. Conclusions are a nice way to end a essay or a presentation. This is not a conclusion which, for me, is one of the hardest things to not write. I like to express my points and then wrap them up in a box; sending it on its way. But, with the microtheme project, one has to be open to further questions about their topic as all the point has been left up for interpretation.