To Whom it may concern,
I presume you have found yourself in your first year of college or your first year at UNC Asheville; whatever the situation, know that I am proud of you. I would also guess that you have found yourself in a LANG 120 class, which I assume you are gritting your teeth and rolling your eyes at the idea of having to hunker down into a prerequisite you believe you do not need; we find ourselves in language arts classes throughout our middle and high school experiences, and you believe that you have beat that horse as much as necessary. No sweat, I felt the exact same way in the beginning.
What you do not know is everything you have learned about writing in those early years is not true.
Actually, my previous statement isn’t exactly true…
… but it isn’t wrong either.
Through this course you will analyze various types of writing, rhetoric, and it’s importance that carries over through your college writing and thinking experience. But most importantly, you will develop your own understanding of writing and how it is used in academia, in life, and in your own work; that’s where my previous statement is true. We are so often taught that writing is formulaic, that there is a pattern to follow to succeed and understand what you are reading/writing; Our understanding of it, our own formula, our own basis, is often ignored or rarely nurtured.
If you are interested, below is a list of what I have learned and discovered as a LANG 120 student that has aided in developing my own theory of writing :
1. Literacy is Subjective, and personal. Understanding a piece depends on how you interpret it yourself. Luckily, writing is constructed to have various meanings based on who’s the reader.
– I believe literacy is subjective, and we all have different experiences with what we have read and what we have written. It is important to understand the complexity of subjectivity. For example, when Baldwin discusses black rage in the essay Notes of a Native Son, the response, whether verbal or written, will be different based upon the reader’s identity and personal experience(the reader of color will understand him on a personal level while a white reader would understand him on a theoretical level). Thus, writing and reading is situational and does not provide a basis or “in general” platform.
2.Standard American English shackles you; Grammar,diction, syntax, rhetoric, etc. Their sole intention is to make connections with the reader and allow for the transmission of information.
-I believe that “Standard American English” as the excerpt states, creates boundaries that divide class, race, ethnicity, and gender, and obstructs larger discussion due to the silencing of the minorities of said intersectional identities.When we write, the emotion and syntax that is provoked from ourselves is unique to our own experience both as a writer and as a person. There is interconnectedness between author and topic, and we write through the subjectivity said topic or piece has allowed.
I discuss this in my piece “The Art of Reclamation”: https://tethridge.wp.unca.edu/2020/02/14/the-art-of-reclamation
3. Literacy is the basis of humanity. It fosters interaction and innovation. It provides competence to understand the world around us.
-I think this goes without explanation.
4.The five paragraph essay is to the student as blinders are to a horse.
–This is the one that gets us the most. We have to have an intro/thesis, three supporting points, and a conclusion. What is not acknowledged is that sometimes there is no conclusion; sometimes these bits are inverted to connect with the reader; sometimes you’re writing is begging questions rather than answering them. Either way, the five paragraph essay is the dog food and by god, we’re Pavlov’s dog, and we need to stop acknowledging the bell that so easily provides a reward. Stop salivating for the slop they make us settle for!
You may ask, why the hell am I even reading this letter?
Well, your professor had hopes that you could garner inspiration from those who come before you. Even if you aren’t inspired, I hope you take away a few things,
but especially these tips:
1. Engage yourself with the material.
– Some of it can be boring, nothing is perfect. But so much of it is fruitful and aids in dismantling the boundaries and expectations that have falsely been held over our heads. To engage yourself is to free your mind.
I was extremely bored by the project below, but by the end, had learned quite a bit about the material when I interacted with it: https://tethridge.wp.unca.edu/2020/03/10/expert-research-and-writing-and-stuff/
2. Attempt to develop your own understanding.
– Understand the reading within your own frame of reference. Pick it to pieces, and find what it means to you.
3. Relate it to your life/learning experience.
– We develop an understanding of something when we interface with it on a personal level. See if you can put yourself within the writing you are reading. What does it mean to you? Why does it mean this?
I acknowledge this in my piece “To Be Black In America:An Analysis of bell hooks and James Baldwin’s Contribution to the Exploratory Non-Fiction Genre” which you can find here!: https://tethridge.wp.unca.edu/2020/04/24/to-be-black-in-america-an-analysis-of-bell-hooks-and-james-baldwins-contribution-to-the-exploratory-non-fiction-genre/
In an attempt to not lull, I guess what I am trying to say is that I have gained many skills that I will take with me throughout my college experience and I will continue working on my development of the things I address above. The understanding of how writing interacts with you and how you interact with it does not stop with LANG120, and you should not let it. As I said, literacy is the basis of humanity, and it begets empathy, awareness, sadness, anger and everything else that comes with being human. In order to grow, you must create space that allows for that growth; within yourself and within your space. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid of ignorance. Don’t be afraid to ask. In the end, you will be able to see the growth within yourself and it is such a beautiful thing.
Best of luck!
Tashia Ethridge