Before I start, I thought I should share how irresponsible I am and how awesome my roommate is. I always forget that I have to blog for English, so I usually do them about 10:30 or later on Friday nights. Just now, I was sitting in my living room with my roommate watching tv and out of the blue she yelled, "Blog!" I don't know how the heck she remembered when I can't even remember, but thanks to her I won't lose 20 points this week!
I thought our silence discussion in class this week was really interesting, and it has made me think more about a silencing experience I had. I shared it in class: I had to work in a group for an entire semester with a guy who constantly talked down to me and made me feel like I was not as smart as him. I couldn't stand it. Working with him was so frustrating, because I know I am smart, and that I wouldn't be at this college if I wasn't. I am upset that I let him silence me. What I should have done was stand up for myself and let him know that my contributions to the group were just as important as his. I guess my message is this: don't ever let someone make you think that you aren't smart enough, good enough, or worthy enough. Believe in the quality of your work and ideas, and let others know what you're worth!
I've learned a good deal about my own writing this semester. First, I am always long winded. I don't know if it really is that I have a lot of ideas to get out or if I just can't write things concisely. The Williams' exercises have actually helped me a bit with this. He gives pretty good tips on getting rid of wordiness and getting to the point in a sentence. Another thing I have learned is that I don't have a very good method of organization before I start writing. I tend to just jump right in, without a sound sense of where I'm going with my argument. I don't particularly like using outlines, but I do think I need to develop a method of organizing my thoughts before I start writing. I think the research paper is going to give me a good chance at trying a new organization technique.
3 comments:
I tend to have a problem with organizing my thoughts too. I usually just start writing and figure that it will all work itself out, but now I am to the point of trying to make all the pieces flow together and wishing that I had thought of a more direct approach, such as an outline, in the beginning. I just have so much I want to say but the way to say it is more difficult than I thought.
You have an awesome roommate. This was the first week I forgot to do my blog. For some reason it completely slipped my mind. I usually do it right after my marketing discussion on Fridays, but I decided to go grocery shopping and that messed my whole day up. As for the organization of your writing, I do the same thing. This research paper is one of the few times I have ever used an outline.
Umm, I can completely relate about the almost-always-forgetting to do your blog. I also have an awesome roommate that almost always reminds me to do my blogs on friday nights. I usually work till about 7:00, but then completely forget about it until it's around 10:30. Although it makes sense that my roommate remembers since she is in this class also. Unfortunately, for the first time this semester, she forgot about the blog and then shockingly--so did I. It makes me a little sad that I depend so much on her reminding me. Also, I hope it doesn't affect my grade too much that I forgot to do one. I made sure that I did it on Saturday as soon as I realized so I hope it sill counts for something. Oh well, I guess I just have to do a lot of extra credit now.
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