comment from Melanie's blog...

Erica Woods said...

I really enjoyed reading your blog and I thought your opening quote was interesting. I think that the admission essays written by prospective college students allow the "scholars and authoritative figures" to see if there is any potential for the student to be shaped and molded into an academic writer. I also agree with you when you said that we have to analyze our professors and understand their "coding" literary styles in order to succeed in their classroom. It is true that we are essentially altering our voice in order for our professors to understand our writings, which is similar to anticipating who our audience is and speaking through that perspective. I used to think that in doing that the writer would somehow lose themselves and that altering their language somehow disconnected them from their central experience or identity. After reading this article however, I am beginning to understand that the writer can and does still convey their own experiences and perspectives even when they alter their language style. Maybe learning to write from various perspectives and different audiences is a form of exercise for the writer, a way to sharpen their skills with language and learning how to efficiently flow in and out of various discourses in order to become "cultured" or "well-rounded".

Looking at the exercise from your english 420 class made me realize that we, the students are sharpening our minds through adaptations or mimicking various languages/discourses. At the same time we have the ability to filter our own experiences and perspectives within these frameworks. A word that comes to mind for me is "blending". All students are gathered together in this commonplace known as the university to become better writers. We can do that by navigating through the framework our professors line out for us, and we can evolve by blending in our own creativity, perspectives and experiences for multiple discourses.