Current Events

During a peaceful protest on September 21^st in Charlotte North Carolina, commemorating the death of Keith Lamont Scott earlier that week, a protestor was shot and critically wounded. The next day in my professional writing class we were looking at two varying examples of accident/ incident reports on the issue, the first was a report by The New York Times and the second was an article posted on the blog Photography is Not a Crime. The New York Times report seemed to be geared toward a more professional audience with a lower level of understood context/ popular knowledge about the NC shooting and subsequent protest. The Photography is Not a Crime incident report seemed to be geared toward an audience with a higher level of understood context and one that would be more keen to value personal testimony over official statement.

Because of the differing target audiences for each report, contrasting structural and stylistic strategies were used to relay the unfolding events/ investigation. The New York Times article was entitled “Man is Shot in Charlotte as Unrest Stretches to Second Night”—here we see Richard Fausset and Alan Blinder (co-authors) utilizing passive voice and not indicating a specific actor of the violence. The audience is made aware that a man was shot, but the audience does not have access to the identity of that shooter. Structurally, the NY Times article covers a wide variety of subjects from the shooting that catalyzed the protest to other national shootings that could be seen as part of a greater movement. While this strategy gave the article an appearance of national community it could be argued that the zooming out of current events was a technique used to distance the authors and the readers from the reality of this occurrence. The Photography is Not a Crime article was entitled “Witnesses: North Carolina Protestor Killed by Cop, not Protestor Contradicting Police Narrative”—here we see Grant Stern utilizing active voice indicating his belief in a specific identity of the shooter. This article mainly focuses on the events that occurred during the protest and utilizes eyewitness tweets/ images taken from social media outlets in the body of the report. One could see similar stylistic/ grammatic strategies in the headlines of other media sources covering events surrounding and following the protest/ investigation, for example:

MSNBC Headlines

Sept. 21—“Police using teargas against Charlotte protestors”

Sept. 22—“Will protests boost voter turnout in NC”

FOX Headline

Sept. 27—“Angry Charlotte residents call on mayor, police chief to resign in wake of shooting”

Each news outlet appears to have a personal agenda making it all the more important that our generation develops skills to become effective and critical consumers of media sources. To be a critical consumer of information one needs to be able to objectively look at facts by first recognizing and facilitating persuasive techniques used by various media outlets, and then compiling that remaining ‘fact skeleton’ into a general picture of related events. While these articles only help paint a partial picture of the events which took place in Charlotte it is my opinion that our society needs to begin approaching one another with patience and honor instead of fear. We must acknowledge fully the reality of events, like the shooting at the protest in Charlotte, to begin a process of communal healing and national growth.

News Article Hyperlinks:

NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/us/keith-scott-charlotte-police-shooting.html?_r=1

Photography is Not a Crime

https://photographyisnotacrime.com/2016/09/22/witnesses-north-carolina-protester-killed-by-cop-not-protester-contradicting-police-narrative/

iPod Shuffle

Songs:

1. It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t got that Swing performed by Ella Fitzgerald

2. Bird Set Free by Sia

3. One More Time with Feeling by Regina Spektor

4. Multiplied by Need to Breathe

5. Lofty by Propaganda

What these song selections say about me:

1. It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t got that Swing performed by Ella Fitzgerald

My first song selection discusses the importance of signature and style. In my writing as well as in my life I seek to emphasize features that are unique to me. While I’m still attempting to develop both my writing style and my personality, I think that communities—both public and within the church—are built by incredibly different people working interdependently toward a common goal. This selection seems to address my predilection for both originality and dependency.

2. Bird Set Free by Sia

This selection is a beautifully executed piece which seems to address the great freedom that can be found in giving oneself a voice through creative expression. While I think of myself as an introvert/ introspective individual, writing analytical or creative works allows me to process many theoretical/ challenging topics in a freeing yet comfortable manner (at least its not talking to a crowd). Many think this song may be Sia addressing how she has found freedom from addiction, using her pain as her pedestal for creative development. Similarly, it is my hope that through my creative development/writing people will see that I have experienced great freedom from sin because of the grace that I believe Christ lavished upon me at the cross.

3. One More Time with Feeling by Regina Spektor

 Regina Spektor’s song seems to address doing everything that one does with gusto. As a Christian I think this song could comment on the heart behind serving others. While nothing I ever do could earn salvation, I think that seeking to love on others through service is a quality of imperfect people that are grateful to be loved by a perfect God. Even broken people like me can be used in a mighty way by God—if that doesn’t put a little extra feeling, persistence, and ‘oomph’ into everything we do I don’t know what would.

4. Multiplied by Need to Breathe

This song is full of rich metaphors attempting to describe the love Christ has for us. It is a song of praise and adoration for that love—and a prayer seeking His help in creating a love ‘ripple effect’ through His church to communities. It is my hope that through my life people begin to see the inviting and accepting qualities of Jesus—it is my hope that through my life people will get a glimpse of worship.

5. Lofty by Propaganda

Propaganda’s rap lofty discusses creation by God, redemption through God, and worth given to us as a result of creation/redemption. In one word—awe. I think this song describes my response of creative expression—and  appreciation—in light of my belief that I was created by a divine Artist.

What is Good Writing?

While labeling a work as a piece which showcases ‘good writing’ may seem fairly subjective, across the board scholars seem to agree that a few key qualities exist in almost all acclaimed literary works: revision/ writing as a process, structure and style, and the originality of one’s ideas/ the new-ness of one’s subject and the manner in which that subject is presented. Revision—while it may seem extraneous and even odious to some—is the process through which mediocre writing is refined. Writing as a process instead of a singular task allows an author to organize and synthesize ideas over time—it alleviates some of the pressure that accompanies trying to write a ‘perfect’ first draft. In fact, it could be argued that any writer could become a great writer if time was not a constraint on their creative development. Perspective, structure, and stylistic organization often are other components which heavily influence audiences to decide that a literary work is deserving of the title ‘good.’ If a work is composed mainly of simple words and standard grammar conventions but told from a fresh point of view or in the form of varying time frames, one might consider it as a work of excellent organization and skillful synthesis. With the right use of language and structure a glimpse can become a story, an image can become a narrative. Conversely, the originality of one’s plot and subject could be a ‘good’ work’s main draw—the focus of individual craftsmanship on a narrative and the presentation of a unique subject could create a riveting plot. Elements such as the skillful use of language, creative development of plot, and uniqueness of structure—often accomplished through scrupulous revision—seem to be trends which appear in many, if not all, ‘good’ literary works.

During my sophomore year at Texas Tech I wrote a paper entitled “Societal Identity Conceived in Commodification as seen in Mary Robinson’s “The African,” Anna Laetitia Barbauld’s “To the Poor,” and Mary Prince’s The History of Mary Prince.” This essay discussed the cultural obstacles encountered by Africans, lower class citizens, and women during the Romantic period because of their inability to own property and consequently their inability to participate in material exchanges within their consumer driven society. This paper seemed to do well because it had a focused argument on sociocultural issues in the Romantic period supported by sufficient evidence, justification, and analysis, and the essay leant itself to the discussion of feminist and humanist theory.

            In college it seems good/ quality writing is defined by focused arguments, justification of one’s claims through textual evidence, and the processing of one’s analysis in a skillful and stylistic manner. Learning to write at a colligate level; however, seems to be the direct result of studying various works which have withstood the scrutiny of multiple generations and maintained their ‘good writing’ status. It is my impression that if one studies multiple works with this quality of ‘goodness’ longevity, one could begin to develop the skills to personally compose ‘good’ works.

Literacy

Literacy seems to best be described as the processes of effectively understanding, analyzing, and communicating ideas in a specific concentration. A literate person generally showcases adequacy/ proficiency in a particular skill—which is often a heavily scholastic subject such as reading, writing, mathematics, or fluency in technological systems. While some may highlight reading/ writing proficiency as the only true literacy platforms, one could argue that literacy can take many different forms. In fact, Scientific American recently released an article on the importance of teaching children to code and the emerging necessity of programming literacy in an increasingly digital culture.

It would be difficult to pinpoint one overarching definition for literacy in varying professional fields, but one could argue that literacy is the quality of being accessible, usable, and profitable in a particular area of work or study. For example, if someone describes themselves as a musician they should have the ability to read, play, and possibly even compose/ improvise music. This would showcase the musician’s understanding of basic technique/ note progressions, utilization of that theoretical study in practical application, and their ability to work in an ensemble to produce appealing chords, harmonies, and distinctive compositions.

As an English major—writer of sorts—my literacy strengths may include the critical processing of scholastic readings and the analytical composition/ discussion of those readings through articles and essays. While my understanding, utilization, and production of analytical texts seem to highlight my major specific literacy, my weaknesses include: organizational literacy—with regard to essays and creative works, mathematic literacy, and digital or technological fluency.
Last week we briefly discussed issues in composition which can range from the medium through which a message is being delivered to the accessibility of the message, one’s personal literacy strengths, individual bias—one’s reception of others ideas, and even stylistic choices—or the execution of one’s personal ideas. As professionals in training, college students should be able to jive—or to fully function and troubleshoot issues in composition—within their intended field of work/study to be considered literate. Many of my weaknesses have to do with my issues receiving/ facilitating information from subject areas outside my realm of literacy—such as mathematics and technology. To overcome many of these compositional issues it seems, as communicators, we must learn to adjust our messaging to fit the literacy and accessibility of our audience. Similarly, as audience members and constant facilitators of knowledge, we must work tirelessly to increase our understanding of multiple disciplines—not just those which interest us most.