ParkerRoe-portfolio intro draft

Looking back on the past nine months, beginning in September of 2010, I realize that I have come a long way, and have learned a great deal about myself and my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Over the course of my entire life I have attended private schools with accelerated programs in just about every department—writing has been no exception. I first realized my strengths as a writer when I was in the eighth grade after I won an award for a reflection I wrote about a camping trip in Yosemite National Park. Ever since then I have taken pride in my work, especially that of which has lied on the more creative spectrum. Narrative writing has always come naturally to me and I have the most fun developing my prose within a story-telling environment. Analytical writing took a bit longer for me to grasp a firm hold of; however, by the time I was a junior in high school it had found a secure home in my neighborhood of academic talents. Now, the final, missing part of the equation… research writing—a discipline in which I have had some very successful conquests, but never fully mastered or fell in love with. Unlike my experience with narrative and analytical styles of writing, personally, within research writing, although it does provide an outlet for investigation and new experiences, I have never achieved a full, one hundred percent comfort level—some pieces are tremendous, and I am very proud of them, but having said that, there is an equal amount of research work that I have completed and turned in that I simply don’t maintain the same level of enthusiasm for. I believe eventually this will change, and like everything else, it’s just a matter of time before it clicks. Part of this trait of me as a writer is most definitely attributed to my creative outlook on just about everything, and my simultaneous habit of just thinking about random things when I may or may not supposed to be doing so (which when writing a narrative can be very helpful). So, without any further delay, in fear of boring you to death with the story of my meager existence as a writer, allow me to introduce three pieces which I believe not only manifest my writing abilities, but also my multifaceted life in which I maintain a vast array of interests. The first paper I completed this spring, a text-based research paper entitled The Ecstasy of Gold, focuses on the early days of Denver, Colorado and the ways by which the gold rush of the late Nineteenth Century served as a catalyst of urban transformation and development. The second piece I would like to introduce is my third project from this spring quarter, a group project in which I worked with three of my fellow classmates to compose a guide to nightlife for University of Denver students.

portfolio draft Baca

During my time in the Writ 1133 class I have learned how to revise. Out of every other skill that this class has offered, by the first paper that I wrote I could see that leaving my paper as the original is not the best way to write. I acknowledged that the first paper was a stepping-stone in my writing life. I realized that the revising process is an important stage in the writing process. Also, in my first paper, addressed the issue of Educational Issues in Denver. I didn’t use sources very much to write a research-based project.
During my second paper, I wrote the first draft early enough to submit for the class to revise as an activity in class. This helped me because I thought that if I awanted to learn about revision than who better to learn it from than the people around me in the same class. It always sounds better to hear the tough words about ones work from a peer than an authority figure.
The third project looked at what DU students do off of campus. I immediately thought of skiing. DU students flock to the mountains on the weekend to get away from the business of school. The main point of this essay was to show the outsiders looking in on DU students, even prospective students that there are so many things to do off campus even some that are just a short train ride into the city of Denver.
The first essay took up the topic of Education Issues of Denver, as presented in the first paragraph. I, thinking that I knew what education needed looked at a few sources then tried to write my essay based on two people opinions. Not looking at the broader scheme of the paper. I didn’t take into account the impact on the world if the USA doesn’t take education seriously. Through the revision process I added these ideas, as well as idea from more people to take into account the reality that educational issues have on people of America and not just what I think the classroom needs to do to improve the quality of education. Also, I didn’t read it over. I took it as I thought it was without reading back over it. I didn’t realize that the paper was the beginning of the process. The ideas were on the page but the scheme, the structure wasn’t. In order to make a paper better it needs to be revised. There is no way that just slamming down the keys the first time can get an A on a paper. Through the course I realized that. This in my eyes didn’t seem wrong at the time I wrote it however reading that paper again at this point in my writing maturation stage I can see why sources are important in writing anything. It credits the writer ethos. Sources also make it easier to write. What I mean by easier is that it is not just writing generally what happens with the topic at hand. It gives real world academic research done by Doctors and Professors who know what they are talking about.
In this essay, I will be discussing the topic of, College students. I want to know why these people come to college; namely the men in my fraternity. I asked these men because I feel like they of any other group of people here at DU they have the biggest sense of why they are here. The purpose is purely educational; I just want to learn more about why people do the things that they do. College is one of those things that most people think about but fewer actually do. I want to show more reasons for going to college other than getting a good job and my parents made me. I hope to find out the real reasons that students come to college. I narrowed it down to my fraternity because interviewing a whole 10,000 people would be too difficult to do. I believe the readers of my paper are people who want to learn more about their peers and or professors who think that fraternity men are just here to party. Not one person said that they are here to get drunk everyday. Independence, education, and making a career are what they want to get out of college. I was wondering one day about who everyone was when he was in high school i.e. the jock, the stoner, the badass etc. Then I started thinking about why they decided to come to DU. Then I started thinking, it would be easy to write a paper on this topic. Then I could interview the people in my fraternity, the people who I spend the most time with. I could learn about my brothers and do homework at the same time.
For this project I intend to show outsiders of DU, or even parents what DU students enjoy when they are not hitting the books. Most people think that college is just one big party but there are many more things to do in the beautiful landscape of the Rocky Mountains than just party and sleep all day recovering from the previous night. The weekends of winter quarter are a busy sensation for the mountains that border Denver to the west. Skiing is a huge activity that many people here at DU pride themselves on. They love getting out of the busy atmosphere of school to just forget about everything and just flow down the mountain with the wind in their faces.
In order to find out a little bit more about the lifestyle that is skiing here in Colorado I interviewed my neighbor and friend Bryant Wilkinson. When asked to write about what DU students do off campus skiing immediately came to mind, as did Bryant. I picked him to interview because out of the many people that go to the mountains extremely often I would say that he by far was up there the most. Each weekend he would leave early Friday morning and not come back until Sunday evening. I narrowed my search in the skiing world by choosing him to interview. I wrote up some questions that outlined what skiers do on the weekends that they are off on the slopes that Wilkinson answered beautifully. At first I was trying to write this as a research topic with a question to answer then I realized that the assignment was to show what DU students do off of campus there is really no question to answer. I changed my writing style after that. The comments helped out because I got to see what students here are actually interested in. By their questions I could see what I was lacking in.
During the Spring quarter taking Writ 1133 I realized the scope of writing, completing my package of writing. I have good words, but typing them out.

Introduction Draft-Scott Haraway

Over the course of this quarter and last in the WRIT sequence, I have developed a breadth of writing skills for a number of different situations and corresponding audiences. I can demonstrate this through four pieces of writing that I created: a text-based research paper, an ethnography, a Google Map, and a newspaper feature article. In these different pieces I appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos, in very different ways to appeal to both the reader and the academic community. Through the documents discussed below, I will show my growth in in-depth research and revision that has made me the better, more versatile writer that I am today.

The first paper I wrote was a text-based research paper. The assignment was to create an argument that had to do with an issue in the city of Denver or its surrounding area in some way, as all of our assignments for WRIT 1133 had to be, and to ground the argument in at least five previously written, peer-reviewed academic publications. Not a week before the paper was assigned, I read an article about how a man named Stan Kroenke had become the primary shareholder (owner) of Arsenal Football Club in England. This struck me as amazing, because I knew that Kroenke already owned the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Rapids, the Colorado Mammoth, the St. Louis Rams, and the Pepsi Center where three of these teams call home and numerous concerts take place year round. Clearly this is an amazing empire in the sporting world, not to mention his wife is a Walmart child, and the so-called Denver sports monopoly interested me being a huge sports fan.

The purpose of this paper was to show how this sort of sports monopoly was a bad thing for Colorado sports. It was very difficult to find sources that had academic credibility, because it is an increasingly current topic and also a small scope of people geographically who would care about this man…

The next paper I wrote was an ethnography/study about why people go to coffee shops. The assignment was to write a qualitative study about why or how people do what they do, again in some way related to Denver. The main point of the project was to create our own research and that the research was qualitative as opposed to quantitative, number-based research. I chose to research what people do at coffee shops, because it is a place that my brother and I had always spent a lot of time and always observed people at. It always struck us as interested that most people, including us, visited a coffee with the cup of coffee they were purchasing as their last priority.

The purpose of the paper was to demonstrate exactly this point. So, I conducted my research through a series of four structured observations in which I used a checklist to systematically observe the patrons of two different coffee shops over an hour period of time. The checklist included almost every trait of physical appearance that you could think of as well as questions on what they purchased and what they did while they were there. In addition, I conducted eight short interviews with a sample of interviewees that I thought represented the coffee shop population very well. With the combination of these research interests I formulated conclusions based on the trends I began to see…

The third product produced in WRIT 1133 was a Google Map, which was a very unorthodox yet extremely fun research project. The assignment was to work with a group, in my case of four, to create an original Google Map that was almost a guide around some part of Denver, for example the DU campus itself or the Denver slam poetry scene. On this map we were supposed to place two to three “markers” each, which were places that we had gone to do firsthand observatory research on and later written a blurb about describing our experience and overall impressions of the place. We were encouraged to include videos, pictures, audio, etc. to enhance our map.

My group chose to do a map based on what DU students do off campus. The reason for this is because it had great personal resonation in that the four of us are always trying to find something fun to do in Denver and explore the city when our campus starts getting a little stale. We also wanted to create something that was very comprehensive and varied throughout the city both geographically and interest-wise. The purpose of that was that our map would then be able to help inform more students from different backgrounds. One critique we seemed to get that it didn’t seem to necessarily have a very focused theme, but that was exactly it. We wanted to provide at least one or two things for each student, no matter what their interests were. So someone could go to

Portfolio Introduction: Kelsie Cage

As I entered my first year at the University of Denver, I was not sure what to expect for the writing courses that I had to take. Throughout high school I was always taught how to analyze works of literature, but rarely conducted hands on research papers. I quickly realized that the two are very different forms of writing. Although, I was always a strong writer, I struggled with maintaing formal writing diction and understanding how to properly conduct a research-based paper. I tend to write with detail and and like to include wordy diction. Throughout this course I have learned that research papers are based on exact material and do not need a lot of detail for the reader to understand the paper. Research papers are full of facts, examples and more or less a non-biased view. The writing does not need excess, polished words; I learned throughout the writing course how to cut out unnecessary information that was not needed. Specifically in the text based paper our writ class was instructed to write about. The assignment as giving to us from our instructor to write about an 'Interpretive' research paper in which you will derive an argument from previously-published sources. As individuals we had to find a topic and conduct a research based paper, while analyzing another authors work and incorporating it into our writing. I wanted to uncover the reason why DU no longer has a football. This arose when I was on my tour of the campus last spring and my leader stated that one of the buildings had been blown up during a football rivalry. I had heard many rumors about the abolishment of the team and wanted to find out the true meaning. When I was conducting my research I felt the need to include the football teams history and the history of the school to give my reader background information. Unfortunately, I felt this could have hindered my writing piece. Instead of it turing out to be a constructive research paper it became more like a media report. One thing that has really stuck with my in this course is the importance of revising a piece. I spent more hours revising this paper than I did on its first draft. I wanted to give my reader reason to read and become interested in my paper. I acknowledged what I did wrong throughout my piece, and attempted to edit it so that it flowed.

I struggled getting to the main point of my paper. I “beat around the bush” and put a lot of “fluff” in my paper, without meaning too. I took a lot of time revising and reconstructing my paper; I wanted to take the time to understand why I was writing the way I did and learn how I could change my style to the appropriate form. I have reflected on my strengths and I have learned to take the time to acknowledge and focus on my weaknesses throughout this course.

Furthermore, I could not override my own opinion while I was writing (this happened with my qualitative paper as well). By the end of the course I have a better understanding on how to write with a biases tone, however I still struggle with it; I have come to be aware of my perspective while writing.

The second piece our class was required to write about was: a qualitative research project in which you gather research via a qualitative method such as ethnography or interview. This piece was my favorite work. I talked about the undercover drug scene on the University of Denver's campus. I used pieces from other authors, such as a research paper that was conducted by a professor at Yale University. Although I was passionate about the topic, because I felt that this research could actually be useful to our university's administrators, like it was used for Yale; my speed bump came with the questions I asked students in an anonymous survey. Our university provides its students with an IRB introduction and research limitation. It is meant to protect the rights and safety of individuals participation in research projects that involve human subjects. The guidelines stated that drug profound questions were not allowed. It did not clearly state exactly what the qualifications of those questions were, so I assumed that there was some grey area and I could wriggle my questions to students, while obtaining the anonymous information I needed while not disobeying the IRB rules and restrictions. I found out that most of my questions slid past the “frowning upon” questions, so I was able to gain most of the information I needed. Yet, I felt cheated that I could not directly ask the members of my survey detailed information that could have positively affected my research. I had to take some of my questions out, which left me a few questions short on my survey. I understand the implications the university is under, however it took a toll on my paper. With that in mind, I did the best I could with the paper. My first draft had information that could not be publicized so my revision lead me down another path with my paper. I had to come up with other ways I could express my topic without stepping on anyones toes. This was my main challenge with this paper. I had learned from my first paper in this course how to effectively write a research paper (still learning, but better than I started off) but did not have to include interviews or a survey. This paper challenged me by understanding how to effectively incorporate my findings. My revision included reforming my topic and taking out my main points in order to follow the IRB format. Although this was a challenge for me, I tried to get my point across the best I could without using certain information. I felt that this piece was a challenge in which I learned a lot about my writing and the different styles used. I had never written a piece that was broken up in sections of method, discussion, conclusion, etc. I did like writing in the different sections, however at one point I felt that I was repeating myself a lot; which resulted me in giving up talking about some main points. In the revision I made and effort to go back and try to provide more information without the feeling that the paper was just creating repetition.

The third and final paper of this course was a group project that was: a Google Maps project that displays your rhetorical map of Denver. Our group conducted research on what DU students do around campus at night. We had two greek-life students discuss what there is to do around campus and two non-greek life students. The two sections over lapped which provided information for those students who are interested in exploring DU's night life and they can gain different perspectives through the eyes of different views.

Brendan Hickey

This map was created in order to show viewers some of the parks and trails available to visitors and residence of the Denver area, which can be used for hiking and biking. The essays in this project were created in order to give a brief overview of each location and what it has to offer. Outdoor activities are a great way for those in the Denver area to stay active escape the urban jungle and I figured that hiking and biking were the two activities that just about everybody can enjoy. I thoroughly enjoy outdoor activities on a regular basis in order to relieve stress get some exercise while having fun.

In order to create the map my group chose eight of the most beautiful and convenient parks around Denver. I chose to write about Lair O’ the Bear, Garden of the Gods, and Lookout Mountain since I had never visited these locations. At each location I either walked or biked through the entire park and took pictures, which would be shown on the Google, map. I also took notes of any significant features of each park. When creating the essays I researched some history of each location and included any significant events and facts in each summary.

This assignment was not without its challenges, the Google maps program would not allow me to collaborate with my group partners and edit my map. Therefore my work was submitted electronically. Also, without a vehicle, getting to and from each location was a challenge.

The I wrote this essay in order to review the effects of mountain pine beetle on several aspects of Colorado. The north west has been experiencing a pine beetle epidemic which has been destroying large populations of lodge poll pines, the destruction of these trees can have negative impacts on are environment and economy however some industries have benefited from the outbreak,

The second paper I wrote for this class was a qualitative piece that I wrote in order to determine how immigration should be dealt with in the United States. I found this working on this piece particularly challenging as it was the one form of writing I had not yet attempted in previous classes. I chose determine how best to deal with the issue by combining the information gathered from credible written sources and a questionnaire that I created in order to gauge the general populations opinions on the matter. When writing the piece, I combined the results of my questionnaire with my research to provide an overall view of what citizens feel should be done to improve the immigration policy.
Having little experience combining research with an opinionated survey I struggled to create a well-synthesized analysis.

Zachary Baca text based revision

While reading over my paper I realize that I am just talking through what I thought education had as shortfalls. I was not relying on my research to keep myself on track. In order to keep the idea of a research paper alive I need to reference my sources more. I don’t have any reason why I can talk about these things without anything to back myself up with academic sources. Also, my argument becomes skewed towards the end of my paper. This comes from not really knowing what I am trying to prove what I am trying to say. With more research I will be able to finally list off the problems with education that need to be fixed first. My conclusion comes with a new idea, if this idea was expanded on during the paper then that would make my argument stronger. The paper is very weak, a lot of work to do but I have the bones, I have the hard stuff I just need to mold the clay around it to get my piece of art that the final piece will be.

Scott Haraway-Revision Excercises for Final Draft

In analyzing my paper through the thesis and main claim scope, I thought I actually did the majority of things very well, but there is still room for improvement in a few areas. First, the first two paragraphs of my ethnography, INTORDUCTION, detail what is to come in the paper very well and allude to the conclusion that coffee shops are not about the cup of coffee at all. Job well done. However, I could have gone into a little better detail about how this ambiguous checklist will look like and maybe give a scope on how big the scope of the study will be. As for the second bullet, I could use more work in that area. In my LITERATURE REVIEW, I discuss three sources that relate to different facets of a study like this that should be considered. But, I fell like the quotations might come of as taken a bit out of context because I do not say how the different sources were intending to use the quotations in their own products. Lastly, my conclusion is pretty well done in returning to the originally-stated thesis because that is actually where I do most of the conclusion development of the main points drawn from the study. It does tend to seem a little long and overly wordy after rereading it, so I think I could go back and condense it to a much more concise version that still conveys the same conclusions. One other part to definitely add to give an opportunity to expand on the thesis is to include a piece on possible area of expansions in this research.

In class_Revision_Kelsie Cage

In my first paragraph I go back and forth stating different claims and making general observations, I need to directly state one claim and my opinion on the matter. I talk about a number of different assumptions but do not directly form a solid forming argument and address it. I should reorganize my thoughts and cut out all the wordy details. The diction I use is on the informal side and does not portray the correct wording for an argumentative paper. I need to make sure that I focus on my argument and provide clear examples. I tend to get wordy and fill in the body paragraphs with information that does not obtain to my main idea and argument. I provide good examples of both sides of my argument, but could go into more detail. I need to revise my work cited and do the correct labeling in my paper. For my conclusion I need to restate my claim and provide once more what my main argument is while summing up why I think the way I do.

Parker Roe_in class revision

For my first paper this term, the text-based paper, I chose to write about the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush and how it generated wealth which eventually transformed Denver in to what it is today. My thesis is clear and to the point and illuminates the direction of the piece but I need to focus more on opposing sides. Currently there is no “issue” in my paper. Oil is arguably another possible reason for Denver’s expansion, but I need to add some sources and analysis incorporating oil and other monetary factors that could combat gold as the primary source of expansion and blossoming which happened in Denver at the turn of the last century.
Also, as far as my use of sources is concerned, I believe that I have come across and used some really beneficial academic sources; however, using more will most definitely bolster my ethos and I think I am going to need at least two or three more. I also need to introduce my sources throughout the piece. Since I have not done this effectively my sources are not nearly as credible when read by someone else as they are by me. I have definitely overlooked this aspect and will make the adjustment.
Since I am writing my paper on an event that took place over one hundred years ago, I have found it difficult to contrast my argument with opposition; however, I consider this a challenge and I am confident that I will be able to accomplish my goal of developing a more two sided issue and arguing my respective side. My thesis has a lot of potential, but it just simply isn’t where it needs to be quite yet.

Frey_In Class Revision

For my revision process I will be focusing on our first paper, the text-based research project. My thesis which was related to the debate on legalizing marijuana in Colorado I felt was strong however I had a hard time making the argument without allowing my personal ideas and feelings get in the way. I also struggled to find scholarly articles to cite within my paper. These two issues made it difficult for me to argue the point I was trying to make. Another part to the revision process for me is the in text citations and learning how to introduce my quotations and sources to allow the reader to understand why I’m using them and how they work to strengthen my argument. My papers organization was decent however I will revisit it again when I look at how I view and analyze the other side of my argument. In both my arguments case and the counter-arguments case my paper could be strengthened. My final thought on the revision of this paper is the attention to detail. Not labeling the file correctly, missing the peer revision, and not editing completely all contributed to a grade much lower then I expect of myself.

Revision Exercises, May 22

1133 Revision Exercises

Goetz_in class_5.9.11

Chuck Close- Chuck is an artist who does photorealistic portraits. He uses neutral poses that he can develop into his own style, which is something that I can use in writing. He uses rigid grids and also abstract methods like turning the picture upside down so he can just focus on certain shapes and colors and not the whole piece. Focusing on both the piece as whole and individual squares is similar to the revising process because it both fixes smaller grammatical errors but also examines the overall meaning and the purpose of writing.

J Mays- J is a car designer for Ford who designs cars according to what they want people to associate the car with. They focus on things that customers look for in a car and then they decide what the car will need to have such as a motor and the other technical factors that going into a car. After the technical details were taken care of they work on the physical mold of the car. Writing procedures can follow this trend if you pick a topic and work towards an outline of what the piece will look like as a final product.

Lupe Fiasco- Lupe is a rapper who writes his own lyrics that are based on the tracks that he plays them to. He does them piece by piece and thinks about them as he goes along. He may change one line over and over again till he gets it right. He talks about how other rappers such as Jay-z can sit down and record a song in one sitting and he does not understand how one can do this. In writing if you take longer and slowly work through a piece you can often have a more refined and focused piece than if you sit down and finish it in one sitting. Lupe has a lot of references to social issues in his songs as shown by the Words I Never Said draft. These meaningful lyrics may take more time to come up with so when trying to write a more interesting paper it may take more trial and error and more time than if one was just to write in a moment.

Walkovitz_Project First Draft: In Class

Lupe Fiasco

Lupe is a rapper who makes a track before he adds the words. I think that his creative process is useful because he doesn’t sit down and write it all at once; he works on it as it comes to him. This gives him the best product because he is not trying to force the lyrics. He takes breaks and goes back and listens to what he said before he adds more. This can be used in writing to minimize confusion and add fluency to the paper. He says that everyone has their own way of doing things and it’s just up to you to determine yours.

J Mays

J Mays is a car designer for Ford Motor Company. In his process of creation, he takes baby steps and walks through the whole process. This could be used in writing just as he uses it for making cars. First, he finds his inspiration for creating, just like a writer could for writing. Then he tries to determine how he will bring these elements together to create an outline of the final product. This turns into a draft, or a sketch for him, which slowly comes together to create the entire car.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton has made many movies, such as Alice in Wonderland. His creative style does not really help me with writing. He makes sketches just based on things that he likes and you can’t always write about what you like. Burton also just sits in silence and doodles to get ideas and be inside of his own head. I think that this could possibly help with writing by just sitting down and thinking about your thoughts and just jotting quick notes on paper. This could then be developed into the final project.

Baca in class 5/09

Lupe Fiasco:
I first of all am a huge fan of Lupe Fiasco. His lyrics are the most in depth from a lot of the other rappers out there not to bash on some of the other influential writers in history, such as Jay-Z or Eminem but Lupe brings much more to the table. In terms of learning from his style of writing it is amazing that he can just sit down and write basically what his song will be about, without any criticisms or changes done by lawyers on the matter of his song. He takes great pride in his work and allows for time to make the song complete, even writing the lyrics before he has the music to go along with it. This is what makes his an artist and not just an unconscious rapper like most other people who can just sit down at the microphone and make a great rhyme scheme from scratch. Fiasco makes art with his music not just something that rhymes. That is why I like his music and why I appreciate his art.

Tim Burton:
Tim Burton creates his own world with his imagination. He makes what he sees in his mind into reality with the re-creation of the movie Alice in Wonderland. From his sketches there is so much detail and thought behind the drawings that they already look like people. With descriptive notes that he could show on the paper he makes the characters more realistic allowing for minor character shifts in clothing or style but keeping the core of what he wants. That is important, to keep the core and change the supporting cast. Finding a core is the hardest part that Burton does so well.

Chuck Close:
Close makes his art from living people but doesn’t just look at one viewpoint. He turns the art in different angles so he can see what it looks like from here or that different view. In order to make something great everyone has to like it. By moving his art in different ways he can appeal to the people who see the world in different ways. Close realizes that he is a nervous wreck as well as sees his work as something he loves. I can see that in my own writing because when I am writing I am calmed down, my breathing is slower and my mind is focusing on the task at hand. This is especially true for the times I like to write creatively.

Jose 5/9

I found that my draft process is very similar to a lot of
the artist we talked about in the article. I mainly related to the MC Lupe
Fiasco, T.C Boyle, and Tim Burton. All three of these artists seem to like
doing their work by hand, or at least the editing part not on the computer which
is very similar to my personal style. Like T.C I like to scribble on the work
that I have already done. This helps me expand on things that might be a little
vague. Although T.C Boyle types all of his work he later goes over it with a
pen and makes notes on the things he can expand on or the things he would like
to change. I would like to try to type all of my work so it would be a little
easier to understand once I am going over it with the pen.

I found it really interesting that Tim Burton drew sketches
of the things he is trying to portray. He mentions something about sketching
things far in advanced so his brain has time to play with it. I sometimes find
myself doing similar things with my writing or poetry. If I come up with a line
or a sentence that I could potentially use for a piece I write it down on my
notebook. I hold that sentence or line and try to expand on it and maybe even
get ideas from other sentences or lines I might have wrote down. I also taught
it was cool how he makes thinking and just sitting around part of his process.
I would like to do this more often because I feel like some really deep taughts
and connections to what you are writing about can come from this. This also
allows you to understand or be really familiar with your topic.

Lupe Fiascos style is very similar to mine. He like I write
his work or ideas on paper and edits where ever he pleases. Like him I am
unable to write unless I have a concept or how he describes it music. I like to
connect with my topic and go in depth with it to understand it well.

Liza Veysikh In-class revision

Jennifer Yuh Nelson describes how their team initiated ideas for their new character Lord Shen in their 3D film. I thought it was very interesting how she said that they look at every detail that would make the character real. Similarly, for our project, we should compile details of our journey to Downtown and try to incorporate every place we saw pertaining to our topic into our project. That would make the city of Denver appear more “real.” Also, her revision describes starting out from a 2D sketch of the character and adding more dimensions to its figure. I think it would also be helpful to use that. First, we should interview people and compile information on our topic. And then we will add layers to the google map by describing the places in detail and adding videos and photos to our project. So I learned that it’s very important to start with the general idea (character in this case) and add on details in the process.

Frank Gehry discusses how he plans out his architectural style. First, he provides a model that is very sketchy and I didn’t understand at first what he was trying to convey. As he said however, looking into the drawings, I could identify objects and forms that are very similar to the actual building. Therefore, I learned that it is useful to start with a sketch of the project, but have important information in it that would lay out the basics, and work from there adding more and more details. I think that this is also a useful idea for our project because we need to lay out the essential basics (like where the wall and the door is) and then work from there.

Ben Katchor, a cartoonist, depicts different faces that are important in his. I like how he uses essential forms (nose, eyes) and then later adds expressions on their faces and many other shades. I learned that the basic forms are important for laying out the basics and then the details will be in process. I think we should use these ideas in our project.

Revision Process Bland

Laura & Kate Mulleavy
Laura and Kate Mulleavy are two fashion designers that gained inspiration from talking and finding both historical and contemporary references like: movies or books. They are quoted, “Images help us create a feeling.” This is essential because before you can start the process of writing, the author must have a focus and a theme which can be gained from visualizing or gaining energy from other sources than one’s own imagination. I like this idea, because by taking into account other references it gives perspective and relativity to writing. I find that in my own writing having some background sources to spark new idea is very helpful.

Lupe Fiasco
This artist is very creative in his process of writing. I like the idea of writing in motion with the music in the background. It seems like a natural way to get your mind to transfer and explore free-flowing thoughts. Lupe Fiasco understood that environment and positioning of the body can affect an individuals thought process, this is helpful to me because if you can find those environments that trigger positive energy for writing. I also liked that he discussed the idea that everyone takes different amounts of time to finish projects. In my own projects I should worry less about how much time spent doing work and more about the process itself.

Paul Simon
Paul Simon has a practical approach to looking at songwriting. Describing himself as a poet and determining that writing is a private matter that is not always discussed, he did discuss his own personal preference to write with white paper and silence. I also liked that he talked about writing in bursts of energy, which for me I can only write if I am inspired and passionate about the topic. I can use this to always remember to be connected and establish meaning in writing, even if I do not need to use a well-phrased sentence to get my point across.

Revision Process - Martin Corral

Lupe Fiasco

This revision process helped to remind me that, my group will have to make use of many different methods until we find a method of revision that works well for all of us. In this piece Fiasco talks about the different ways in which rappers come up with their lyrics, including different positions, using music, or not. This is useful because when we come together as a group to write this project, we need to take into account that we have different revision processes. Our group needs to acknowledge each other’s revision processes to find weaknesses, as well as implement other team members’ review processes to form a better final project.

J Mays

This particular artist has a very common approach to writing papers, though he uses it to design vehicles. First he designs the car with the basic attributes that he wants it to have, later he adds to the vehicle to upscale it and make it look better, finally he compares it to others to decide whether it is a worthy competitor. This will be necessary for our group because we need to fulfill the requirements, then utilize our writing skills to shape it and make it look good. Finally we need to compare it to previous works and see if the paper is satisfactory and will be worthy to turn in.

Grant Achatz

This Chef takes a reverse approach to the creation of a piece. He first takes the piece, strips it down to its essentials, and looks at the basic information. This is an invaluable technique to consider. When our team paper is done, we should definitely take the piece apart and see if it truly is what we originally wanted it to be, and if not, is it better? Taking this paper apart will help us have an extra revision and be able to take the paper to the next level.

Kevin_Frey_InClass_May9

After reading through the some of the articles that were selected for today’s readings I’m going to discuss those about Paul Simon, Jennifer Nelson, and T.C. Boyle. I found these articles related to me more directly then the other because of the process that each of the articles subject describes. In Paul Simon’s case he talks about how he decided to write his new album, a process he had not done in twenty some years. Here he sat alone in a room with his guitar just singing words or creating a base melody. I’ve always been fascinated with musicians’ ability to just create music but when he started talking about using clichés I realized many a times artists need creations from the past to influence their new work. When I write many times I try to just invent something new that is very difficult depending on the subject. I’ve never thought to revisit me own work to help me get idea for a current project whether it be form, subject, or content.
In the second article I choose which is about Jennifer Nelson I really got the sense that teamwork is the name of the game in her profession. Although a base idea is sometimes generated by one person that idea almost always goes through a change before it reaches it’s end product, as seen in the article. This imparts the importance of peer revision and editing to me because without other people inputs, a project is never fully complete.
Finally in T.C. Boyle’s article I learned the importance of self-editing as a continued learning experience. As he mentions, many a time technology takes away from the editing process that is so important to the creation process. As a rule I generally try to write out my thoughts on paper prior to typing them on the computer because I feel that I can see and edit the words easier. This in turn helps me put the paper together into on coherent piece later on down the road.

Will Summitt- In Class

CHUCK CLOSE

Chuck Close is an artist. His art is canvas painting of actual people. He starts by taking multiple still photographs, which are neutral (as in no emotion). The next step is graphing grids on a photograph and then putting four times as many grids on the canvas. He then puts a base coat on, and “corrects” the painting as he goes. He does this by slow rotations, and observing how to correct the photograph so that it resembles the original photograph, but using abstract colors. I find the art Close produces fascinating. In writing I learned that there are many stages, and that to create a final draft you must first create multiple base layers, or steps to the final product.

LUPE FIASCO

Lupe’s approach is far different than Close’s. Lupe’s creativity comes from many different places. His approach is by listening to a beat or a song multiple times, and thinking of a creative piece to express that music. He will then record a small bit, and go back to listening. He says that much of his inspiration comes randomly, sometimes he’s driving, sometimes he’s sitting, and other raps need to be voiced standing up. It seems that it is mostly emotional, and the environment is the primary factor contributing to spontaneous art and flow. This can aid me in that I need to spend a lot of time with key phrases, and not procrastinate. This is because opportunities for inspiration come at unexpected times, if you aren’t prepared you may miss them.

FRANK GEHRY

Based on this article Frank Gehry’s method is quite simple. He is given requirements for a project, begins with those (parking, front door, etc..). After this he creates a first draft to scale. He says drawing in scale is easy and that his first drafts normally resemble the final product by a surprising amount. He uses shapes and things that he is familiar with, and causes me to believe that his talent comes through practice, and a creative visual image. This is somewhat how I approach my writing, although it isn’t normally successful for me. However I find that spontaneous images occur, I just can’t apply it to writing.