Blog Two - Genres

In-class essays were never fun in high school. You knew as soon as you got into class you'd have a mere 50 minute time limit to cram an elegantly addressed, perfectly articulated, and transitionally smooth essay. It didn't even matter if you were good at writing or not - those five-paragraph essays sucked.

Looking back at that, it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to become a writer. But what I didn't see is that writing is about so much more than school-type expository or persuasive essays. Being a writer isn't limited to just novels or scientific research findings. There's a whole other world of writing that we come across everyday which lives worlds apart from the mundane genre of the five-paragraph essay. 

In Devitt's article she brings up many points of why there's fear in teaching students different genres of writing. From the viewpoint of a teacher, a five-paragraph essay is the cleanest, most traditional form of writing that enables you to gauge how effective a student's argument is. Points are clearly laid out in each paragraph and the thesis can easily be spotted. There are so many more avenues to take, however, when trying to get information across. Pamphlets, brochures, blogs, articles, infographics. 

Like Professor Flewelling said on the first day of class - the day we graduate will most likely mark the last time we will ever be tied to the requirement of five-paragraph essays. That day, however, doesn't mark the last chance we have at written communication. We have to start learning how to navigate these other routes of written word. We have to learn how to effectively get our opinions out there, whether it be through meme, private journaling, public letters to the editor, ANYTHING. Just so long as we continue the conversation that makes up our life. 

In learning the ropes of new genres people can start to take on a persona of the ideaologies backing that genre (like how it was mentioned a Mozart composer would probably behave differently than a Heavy Metalist). I wonder if that is not for the fact that there are certain expectations of a genre. Certain characteristics, you could say, that draw the audience in. In trying to build a successful "meme" or "article" or whatever your genre may be you have to adopt those characteristics in your writing to please the audience. We morph into that personality so that the success of our work gets the point across. 

That isn't always such a good thing, though, according to Devitt's article. She stresses that we need to start criticizing how genres are molded. The genres "represent particular viewpoints that shape our existence on the world" (Devitt 348) and sometimes it's too hard to see who is influencing who. It's like the age old questions of whether or not media creates violence or simply acts as a mirror, displaying it to viewers. We are politically and socially swayed by genres and in order to remain always questioning the right and wrong it is important to learn about genres so that we can pick out the biases among them.

Learning about the genres of blogs, and actually experiencing it, has given me some time to reflect on my first impressions of this new type of written communication.

The vibe of a blog offers somewhat of a false sense of security. It is almost like writing a diary. The words flow from mind to keyboard and there isn't any pressure to plan everything out. I'm in the comfort of my own home and that makes me feel safe - yet I know that this is going to be published on the internet and others are going to read it. I know not everything I say if going to be backed by proof or even taken positively by viewers. But this is still a great source of communication. Following someone's blog is like having an internet pen-pal friend. You can see what they are up to and their blog usually has a theme. You can pick when to subscribe and unsubscribe and there is no obligation to read every post. That is my take on blogging so far. I don't follow any blogs as of yet, but I do enjoy a good vlog - which isn't so far off. It is all very personal and thank you for taking the time to read this. As I continue blogging for class I am sure I will find my "blog voice" and my writing style will change to fit the genre. Opening up to new ideas isn't only important for classroom learning it's also a big part of personal growth. The more we know about the world, the more we find out about ourselves.