Thompson's Views on New Literacy

“An age of illiteracy is at hand, right?” Wrong, this is such a rash statement that has not solid support.  There is no argument that can contrast to the fact that because of technological advances, there is less reading from dictionaries, thesauruses, and magazines, but Sutherland left out the idea that since we rely on the internet so much, it has just become our primary source.  People use the internet to read articles from newspapers, browse the millions of blogs, and to keep in contact with people around the world.  Although texting may hinder our abilities to communicate face-to-face with a person, I strongly believe that we are not on a slippery slope towards illiteracy. 

               I 100-percent agree with Lunsford in that we are among, as she calls it, “a literacy revolution.” People are using their freedom and creativity to write in ways that were never thought of as ‘correct’ or ‘proper.’ The day and age we are in allows people to openly be who they are and to find themselves through different forms of art.  Some people may not agree that writing, or song lyrics, or interior design are art forms, but I believe that as long as there is a sense of expression, it is art. 

               Now, back to the whole LITERACY part of Thompson’s article.  One major difference in modern writing, compared to previous eras, is that papers are now more commonly written for a specific audience.  One writing piece I had to write for a specific subject was in my Communications class last semester.  I had to write a piece, persuading the class to change something to better their daily lives.  I wrote about how college students do not drink enough water, and the simple solution was carrying around a reusable water bottle on a daily basis.  Although there is a huge statistic of people who do not drink enough water, I narrowed my thoughts and points to those that would attainable and relatable to my audience. 

XOXO, College Girl

Rhetorical Situation

This advertisement is one I found on a website called “The Essentialist,” along with all the ads from the Chanel Accessories Ad Campaign from the Spring/Summer collection of 2009. The main focus of the ad is to raise awareness of the brand and their accessories, in this case the black and white clutch.  The rhetorical situations starts off with the pathos present because the emotion brought out is a strong sense of envy and desire to imitate those in the picture. Everything in the ad has a white and grey tone to it in order to accentuate the dark blacks which bring out the main accessory, the brand logo on the shopping bag, and the dark hair of the handsome man in the corner.  Not only do the colors help accentuate, but they create an air of mystery for the viewer.  The clothing the two beautiful women are wearing are white to represent the innocence and heaven-like qualities that the viewer could obtain just by having this clutch.  The white also brings out the irony of the ad because white is usually seen as a virgin quality, yet there is a sultry-looking, handsome man lying in bed with her.  This luxurious lifestyle is one that is wanted by all and OBVIOUSLY obtainable, JUST by buying this bag! Since this is a visual ad, there is not much logos present.  It may be argued that ethos is slightly present because if the wealthy use this product, then it must be worth it.  Although, that is an extremely stretched idea and some people may argue that it is not considered ‘credible.’

XOXO, College Girl

http://theessentialist.blogspot.com/2009/02/chanel-accessories-ads-springsumer-2009.html

My Writing Process

To be honest, I am not the best writer and over the years I have tried many different writing techniques.  In elementary school, we learn that in order to write a suitable paper, we have to start with an organizational web to sort out all our thoughts, followed by a paper that is eventually grammatically corrected.  In middle school, I was taught to use an outline then finish writing the paper by elaborating form the outline.  In high school, we were expected to know how to write but then learned how to polish the paper.  Since being in college, when writing papers, I try to get all my thoughts out on the paper then organize it.  I start usually with one thought then add on.  I tend to add random thoughts at the end of the page until I can work them into my paper.  Then at the end I go through it and edit the paper to the best of my ability.  This process has worked great so far and has helped me with getting all my thoughts down and including them into a great paper. 

               The only issue with this process is that it often can become chaotic and unorganized.  After I get all my thoughts down on the paper, reading it out loud is the only way I can make sure the paper flows properly.  I also usually have to take a lot of what I thought was vital to the message of my paper, out because it didn’t work with the flow of the paper.   After I fix my papers I try to have another student, tutor, or professor to revise my paper.  I generally have issues with writing how I talk which, depending on the teacher’s preferred style, sometimes is frowned upon.  Although writing is not my strong suit, I write the best papers I can using almost the same technique as Lamot in her piece “Shitty First Drafts.”

XOXO, College Girl