One of the
most important concepts for this course is that writing is everywhere, and our
everyday life is dependent upon writing. A lot of time it is hard to recognize
the importance and significance of writing, unless it is your writing.
Generally there is a much deeper meaning to what we write and why we write it,
even if we are unaware of that meaning ourselves. Writing can be used as a form
of communication, a form of self expression, and also a means of
documentation.
Another concept which is crucial
to the class is understanding the meaning of ‘everyday.’ In order to understand
this class, we need to define what "everyday" means. When something
is said to be "everyday," it becomes normalized, unimportant,
and mundane. "Everyday" things are generally not formal and
usually deemed as ordinary. A perfect example of a piece of writing which
seems mundane but can also be thought of as very important is a simple
to-do list. These lists generally comprise of groceries that need to be
bought, or chore that need completing. To-do lists do not have as much depth as
a novel, but as certainly important to the function of everyday life. If a
stranger were to find one of my to-do lists, they would view it as unimportant
and most likely throw it away.
In order to understand this
class, one must have a general knowledge of what 'writing' itself is, and what
it entails. As a whole we have seen writing as: social media posts,
post cards, scrapbooks, graffiti, letters, and more. Writing is used to convey
an idea or express an opinion. Sometimes it can be a private matter, others it
can be massed produced and available for thousands of people to see.
Another
key concept is the use of inference. When giving something as simple as a
one-lined postcard, as a class we have to be able to decipher the deeper
meaning behind that line and figure out someone’s true intent for writing that
postcard. The meaning behind each piece of writing isn’t always clear, so a lot
of the perceived meaning that we come up with comes from careful analysis and
putting yourself into the writer’s perspective. There is always a story that
can be told about a piece of writing, even when you don’t know where it came
from, who wrote it, or why it was written in the first place.
The last
key concept crucial to this class is asking the question of “why study everyday
writing?” Studying everyday writing allows us to categorize what we consider as
everyday vs. what is just writing in general. It helps us label and describe
different types of writing and their purposes. It also allows us to understand
why we write certain things that we do, and find a deeper meaning to the
writings that some consider boring and mundane.
-Jessica Curatolo,
Caitlin Anderson,
Isabella Gibson,
McKenzie Mizell, and
Erin Talisman
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