"Writing Through Snapshots"
Sydney Salloum
English 1102-062
Showcase Writing.
Informal Writing/Daybook and Forum
Throughout the semester, I was challenged to write in different styles and to learn new ways of expressing my opinion. In the beginning of the semester, we were required to write a piece about what we believed good writing was. I wrote my response about how I did not believe that there were certain rules that had to be followed for writing, since it is a form of expression. I still feel the same about writing. I think that writing is not necessarily for others but for ourselves as well, therefore, we don’t need to follow a certain layout when putting our thoughts into words. I see writing as any other form of expression- you would not be restricted to stencils when drawing, and there is no rule that a sunset must be painted yellow and pink. Writing is the same- we express ourselves in different ways and no style should have to be the same.The “This I Believe” assignment was what I enjoyed most this semester. It was the first time I was really able to write about something I believed in. Equality has always been something that I’ve valued in my life, and being able to freely write about that allowed me to explore new rhetoric devices and literary devices that were completely new to me.
Blog Post 1: What I enjoyed with “Randy’s Last Lecture” was how it was so easy to connect his messages with subjects in my life. He was able to draw out emotions from his viewers and listeners which I think it very important in expression. With his speech, he not only told people about himself, but also inspired people to achieve great things no matter what the obstacles are.
Blog Post 2: By being able to write about something that I thoroughly believed in, I was able to use more emotion and feeling. In many assignments, I’ve had to write about subjects that did not interested me, therefore I was not able to connect with my own writing as much as I did when writing about equality.
Blog Post 3: I enjoyed discussing the techniques used during the opening of “Dexter” because although the images used were very common and simple, it surprised me how much the image and meaning was changed. It was a form that I had never seen before and I was interested in how I could use these techniques in later works to draw out certain expressions from other people.
Blog Post 4: Bathe’s wrote in a way that was totally new to me. Honestly, when I read it the first few times, I misinterpreted the message completely, but once we discussed the piece in class, everything from Bathe’s made sense. His message was told in a new way that reminded me of satire. It was in a way sarcastic, which made the message a lot more powerful.
Blog Post 5: The piece from Henry Rollins allowed us to see an example of inquiry. It helped to show me how a message can be told without sounding too informative or dull. He pulled examples from popular topics to emphasize his message to this audience. His piece set an example and certain expectations for my inquiry project.
Being made into a sex object is not the only problem female artists are facing.
Credit is not being given where it should. For many female successful female artists, the media did not focus on her achievements, but rather, how the man supporting her made it all happen. Lady Gaga’s ex-boyfriend, Fusari, claims that it was he “came up with the moniker “Lady Gaga,”” (Idolater) and therefore, her whole persona. Similar situations have happened with Adele and her manager Jonathan Dickens and Beyonce with Jay-Z.
Early April of 2013, “ indie darling” Solange Knowles tweeted: “I find it very disappointing when I am presented as the “face” of my music, or a “vocal muse” when I write or co-write every fucking song, How can one be a “vocal muse” to their own melodies, storytelling, and words they wrote?” (fact mag).
Yea, She's Good For a Girl
“Although Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Madonna are essential ingredients of our modern culture, women musicians have had a very difficult time breaking through and getting the credit they deserve.” -Abbey Phillips
Claire Boucher took to her tumblr to post “I’m tired of men who aren’t professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to ‘help me out’ (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i’m gonna flounder without them. or as if the fact that I’m a woman makes me incapable of using technology. I have never seen this kind of thing happen to any of my male peers,” she writes. “I’m tired of the weird insistence that i need a band or i need to work with outside producers (and I’m eternally grateful to the people who don’t do this).” (fact mag) "I don't want to be molested at shows or on the street by people who perceive me as an object that exists for their personal satisfaction, I'm sad that my desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected." (huffington)
Both Knowles and Boucher were said to have not even written their own songs by the media. Female artists are not getting their due.