Review: Writing About the Media

I discuss my biggest fault in approaching the class in my final assignment. I took that as an opportunity to reflect on some bottled up thoughts that I had, revisiting the core purpose of why I enjoy writing. Reflecting on the course itself and the process, I found this class to be a different form of writing that was in the middle of the analytical, research papers that I hate and the free, creative writing that I loved. We took our own thoughts and ideas but integrated them with outside research on the medium. 

I found it to be quite a roller coaster for me. The first piece was the one that I was most distant from (in terms of content at least). I'm not very big on pop culture or news, so writing about it was out of my comfort zone. I had to spend extra time researching since I was so foreign to the current policies and news, only just grasping a level of understanding to be able to whip the piece together. What pulled me through that assignment was integrating it with something I was genuinely interested in. Researching about supervillains and Lex Luthor made the corresponding research on Trump much more tolerable. It gave me an understanding of how, if I have to write about something I don't particularly have an affinity for, I can merge my own interests to create a piece I'm happy with.

The second piece I used as a rant on lectures. The biggest takeaway for me through that was the research and evidence that we were discussing did not have to be always external. Thinking through my own experience and using it as a resource was what made the piece what it is. Going into that piece, I was initially planning on approaching it in the same manner as the first assignment. But looking internally made me much happier with writing process.

The initial research that we were doing before Assignment 3 really gave way to what became of it. I initially thought about doing just a reflection on why Halo was important to me, but looking into another person's blog made me realize what I really wanted to do. The other blog had interesting Top Ten lists for Halo where the choices were made from personal interest. This made me want to create an autobiography through a list of my favorite video games, giving insight into why they have their respective positions. This was by far the most exciting piece for me in this class. It truly brought together writing for the medium of the internet and writing for myself. 

Creating my own assignment was quite fun, but I did fall victim of the issue I played out in my final assignment. I had the idea and the Venn Diagram planned out. But when it came to doing it, I didn't spend as much time as I would've liked. If I was going to revise a piece like the original final assignment intended, this would have been the target. I liked the idea I had going into it, but I approached it on a time crunch and only did what I had to do.

I thought this class was great. The only issue that comes up with a class centered on the student experience is that people fall victim to their effort. I alluded to this in my class survey. If given freedom, there is a hand full of students who will do nothing. But instituting a grade incentive will bring the other side down, breaking the freedom that allowed the other students to do what they wanted in their discussions and writing. I find classes like this are a hit or miss depending on the selection of students you get. If you have a group who is open to discussion and willing to participate, the experience is incomparable. However, when there are students who are actively disregarding the class, it brings down the morale and is a form of distraction in itself. I don't really know where you could fix this unless the class was completely an elective and every student was there for themselves. I want to thank you for being so open with us. The last day of class made me quite emotional. But that I find is the best place to write from.