Journal Number Dos

I want to touch on a few points I've noticed in the reading, because I'm starting to see wonderfully colorful and exciting patterns in what Melissa is assigning us and the discussion we're having in class, and outside in the writing center as well. I love seeing the names of author's I've actually read something from, crop up in something else I'm reading. I love love love it. :) It makes me feel all connected and in the loop and what not. I don't feel like I'm grasping into the dark abyss trying to figure out how to connected almost entirely unrelated material that is just handed to me to be read and understood. I don't know why this is such a big deal to me, but I have an inkling that it has something to do with the previous 14 years of public schooling I have participated in that rarely seemed helpful and never connected. I like these connections because its a kind of comfort to see theory and practice intertwine and have what you read and what you observe actually happen in front of you.

I have also noticed a nice pattern in the work we've been doing in this class, the readings and concepts presented all fit together really nicely and smoothly. I wanted to give you kudos, Melissa, for creating such "flow".

Also, when we were looking at your piece on collaboration done via collaboration, a quote in the challenges of collaboration section stuck out, "There is never enough time, collaboration is inconvenient." While I agree with this statement I also think its a little to one-sided, although it never seems like there is enough hours in a day to do anything really, when one is working with a progressive thinking and productive group that doesn't give in to the temptations of group think or group hate, that minuscule amount of time spent together can end up being far more satisfactory then if each separate member of the group were to do the work alone.

I have a lot written down from class last night, and its not entirely smooth as far as going from one point to the next is concerned but I also wanted to mention my experience observing others in the class as well as those I bump into in the Center. I like seeing different people chirp in now and then, because it seems our class is starting to see a trend in who dominates the discussion (Rob, Justin and Bruce (?) I think) I just think of him as awesome tattoo guy or Oxford Comma King.

Our reading that expanded on the idea of writing as a path of discovery as well as a social process has beneficial for me to give writing another facet in which to view it in. I just don't like that there isn't a nice compromise between writing as a social and collaborative activity that ultimately enriches the author's writing in ways that they as just one mind couldn't perceive versus writing as a solitary and exclusive experience known only to the author. I think that both can be true, I am writing this and most of what I write for anything alone, but posting it to a very public social networking website. So the two inevitably mix and I believe that they should be recognized as such. I don't see how you could be so blatantly black and white on such a complex matter. Writing is also recursive as we learned and that the three step process that has been designed to show a much more complicated process, is too elementary but sufficient in showing how a writing can go through prewriting, to writing, back to prewriting to revision on what they've already written and so on and so forth.

I want to end this entry with a point Melissa brought up last night about how one of the aspects of our job as a consultant in the Center is to be an example of that "good" writer that a lot of students hear about but maybe, never see? If they can see us and think, we'll they look normal and seem normal but here they are writing away and doing a good job of it, then it can't be too hard for me to as well. I like the idea that we're almost crusaders in a way, battling to dismantle the fear of writing, or rather the fear and apprehension that they may have toward the unknowns about writing and its processes. I strongly believe so many people dislike writing for the simple reason that they just don't have quite the right grasp as to the tools they need to make it work for them.

I'd also like to comment on an observation I've had since our first initial meeting (almost a month ago now! geez!) and how different it is to be in a class and a community that is considerably more "adult" like in ways that I'm not used to yet. I'm only 19, and sometimes I feel like such a little kid still when I sit in class and don't get a lot of what's going on around me. But the change in scenery and discussion is so nice. I still am having trouble identifying myself as an "adult". And I'm trying to find ways to help myself get over this anxiety, almost that I'm not sufficient. It is slowly starting to disperse as the class continues and as I spend more time in the Center with the veterans and Melissa and Joy.

I also want to say that I feel comfortable at the same time in class, speaking and in the Center, I finally think I found a little corner of the university that feels like home. :)

Have a great weekend! Its supposed to be wonderfully warm.