Process Notes
With all three of the main projects I tried to do something that was outside of my comfort zone as a writer. The Repurposing risk was trying to write to multiple audiences and using emotive language while also avoiding sounding “cheesy.” For the Remediation, it was incredibly difficult to rely on speaking as my sole medium of communication. With the Why I Write piece, I tried to take it in a more philosophical and personal direction than the prompt really asks for.
I am very pleased with how my Repurposed essay turned out. I think that it captures the emotion that I wanted to capture while also serving its dual purposes. As it is addressed, I wrote this letter to the refugees affected by the Muslim Ban. However, I also tried to grab the attention of the American people to act. In this way, I was trying to inspire hope in the refugees while also inspiring Americans to fight for those who could not fight for themselves, in this case, the refugees.
I feel this was proven to be a success because I was able to take so much of the Repurposing essay and use it for my Remediation Project. The intended audience of the Remediation speech was just protestors at an airport protest, more specifically JFK International Airport, which had one of the largest protests after the Muslim Ban.
I think that the language I used in the Repurposing and subsequently in the Remediation was powerful. I was very proud of the start of the Repurposing where I wrote “Dear Tired, Dear Poor, Dear Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free, Dear Homeless and Tempest-Tossed.” In case you did not realize, this was a reference to Emma Lazarus’s poem that is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. At the end of the paper, I tied it all back together by quoting directly from her poem, saying, “We will lift our lamp beside the golden door.”
One last comment I want to make is that I was also proud of the font and format of the page. I am very happy with how the whole website looks. It is a little plain on some pages, but I was going for a more simplistic layout, so I am fine with how it turned out. But the Repurposing page looks especially pleasing to me. The Courier font is supposed to remind you of old typewriters and the frilled edges of the page and pictures is supposed to contribute to a rustic feel. Then at the bottom of the page is a fantastic picture that should invoke patriotism in the reader.
I will admit that I put off recording the Remediation speech for as long as possible because I was so afraid of delivering the speech. I think that it turned out alright, though I could see how I could improve it. By adding in the sound of a crowd in the background, it could seem a little more realistic and better at setting the stage. I also could have been more emotional with the speech, though I do wonder how good of a speech I could realistically actually give.
For the Why I Write essay, I wanted to share the ideas I had thought of over the past summer about living life to its fullest. I feel that I sort of was able to explain it, though there is still significant room to improve. It may not have been the best prompt to try to introduce these ideas when discussing Why I Write. I really wanted to just write a Why I Connect essay instead of Why I Write. I still hope that the final version of the Why I Write essay is understandable so that people at least start to think about the “Why” behind their life. “Why” as in, “Why am I going to school?” or “Why am I majoring in this subject?”
Overall, I am happy with the final portfolio, and relieved to be done for now.