Reading Response #24 (Anzaldua)

Summary:
In the articles "Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink" and "Toward a Mestiza Rhetoric," Gloria Anzaldua and Andrea Lunsford delve into identity and its importance in the writing community.

Synthesis:
This article reminded me strongly of the others about identity we have read, but it also reminded me of the Villanueva article. I was reminded of the latter because of the cultural aspects of the writers. In terms of subject matter, I drew comparisons to Wardle and Flynn, and could even trace some aspects of identity back to Gee. However, I believe that this article is vastly different than those of Cixous and Smitherman, because it does not really touch on either gender or race.

AEI
1. The significance of this distinction is that tribal art, with its communal characteristics, loses a bit of identity because it is being contributed to by more than one person, and identity can be lost in translation when this happens. However, Western culture is very individual and has only become more so, and as an effect, there is much more identity in Western works. I believe that due to my selfish generation, literacy and art culture are both becoming much more individual, as most believe now that the needs of community are no longer very important.

2. I don't believe that this would have been nearly as effective if it were written in traditional format. Part of Andalzua's identity is her identity as an artist, and therefore the style she writes in is ultimately reflective of her identity as an artist, which only shapes the piece more, as that is what she is trying to entice her readers to do when they write.

Personal Thoughts
I really enjoyed this article. It was probably my favorite out of all the identity-focused articles, although I believe that ultimately they were all very helpful, as I have always been encouraged to put more of my own identity into my writing. In general, this section really interested me, mostly because I'm finally reading something that I can freely think about.

Reading Response #23 (Cixous)

Summary:
In the article "Viewpoint the Laugh of Medusa," Cixous promotes the idea of women writing in their own voices. Cixous believes that women's voices are often overpowered by those of men, and believes that this should change.

Synthesis:
This article is much like the Alexander article in that both discuss gender, and it also can relate back to Flynn because it discusses the differences between men and women in writing.

QDJ
1. This article didn't make me uncomfortable at all. I've read much worse, and I'm sure the main goal of Cixous was to make people uncomfortable, and I don't want to give her that satisfaction. Also, I've read many articles of the same topic and it's just getting kind of old.
2. I believe that Cixous is telling women that they need to write whatever comes to mind, regardless of what they think they should be writing. She wants them to write without the influence of men, and figure out what their own voice is.

Personal Response:
I really just did not enjoy this article. Frankly, it makes me feel bad for the guys in our class, because, for those of us that are also in ENG 2010, they are just taking heat this semester. I believe that Cixous is entirely too harsh and accusatory in this article, and honestly, it's quite the turn-off. I would not have read this on my own.

Reading Response #22 (Alexander)

Summary: 

In his article "Transgender Rhetorics:...," Jonathon Alexander promotes transgender and feminist studies, saying that they are necessary to understand gender as a whole. 

Synthesis: 

Once again, we are reading about identity in the writing community. However, this article also relates back to the Smitherman article in that it discusses a group that is regarded as a minority, and could be considered oppressed.

AEI

3. I believe this article has an impact on students because, as I stated before, most trans people are a minority, and reading this article gives people a new perspective, much as reading about blacks or other minorities. It also gives students another viewpoint on gender as a whole.

4. Alexander believes that gender is a construct because, much like a construct, gender puts certain restrictions on people, even though it is a very personal thing. Gender needs to be discussed in classrooms to promote tolerance.

Personal Response:

I enjoyed reading this article. Being in an LGBT-friendly group at school, I've had a lot of exposure to the term "gender-fluid." The whole "fluid gender" idea has always been a bit confusing to me, but this article helped explain it a little more. 

Reading Response 21 (Smitherman)

Summary:
In her article, "God Don't Never Change," Geneva Smitherman states that black English should be accepted and utilized in schools. She explains how previously, black students have been graded poorly because of their use of black English, and maintains that this should not happen, as black English is its own style.

Synthesis:
This article deals mainly with identity, as the past readings we've been doing have, like Flynn and Wardle. All have discussed identity and its place in the writing community.

QDJ
2. Smitherman uses black idiom rhetorically by using black English in the article, therefore trying to show the reader that it is okay and acceptable to use.
3. Language is and has probably always been defined by certain classes, with the upper class deciding what is and is not okay. Some writers, like Smitherman, believe that this is unfair and oppresses blacks.

Personal Thoughts:
This article frustrated me, mainly because I am a grammar stickler and everything in it was just so hard to read. I am all about identity through writing, but there comes a point when there needs to be certain rules to follow just for the sake of understanding one another.

Reading Response #20 (Flynn)

Getting Ready to Read:
I have had various experiences with gender in the classroom. For example, my freshman year I started taking a woodshop class but eventually dropped it because the teacher was very adamant that shop was a "guy thing." I also had male teachers who favored males, male teachers who favored females, and female teachers who favored males.

Summary:
In her article "Composing as a Woman," Elizabeth Flynn discusses the differences in writing between men and women. She points out that writing is mostly directed toward males, and written for males, and argues that it should be equal and favor females as well.

Synthesis:
This article does not really deal with discourse communities, more like identity, which I think could be applied to the Villanueva article as well.

QDJ
What this quote is saying is that women's perspectives have been pushed to the side, much like the perspectives of minorities, in an effort to "make everyone the same," and push aside the fact that women and minorities have had radically different experiences.

Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this article. The differences between men and women have always been fascinating to me and I thought this article showed the differences in writing styles in a very interesting way.

Reading Response #19 (Villanueva)

Summary:

In his article, "Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourses of Color," Victor Villanueva reflects on his experiences and laments the fact that he does not know more Spanish. He talks about his family and the fact that he wants his children to know more about their heritage than he did. 

Synthesis:

While I think this article touched on discourse communities, it was very hard for me to compare it to other articles we have read. 

QDJ:

I believe that Villanueva's primary discourse would be his professional life, and his secondary would be his home and personal life, especially his heritage. 

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this article. I liked how it was broken up into smaller sections, it made it much easier to read and understand. 

Reading Response #18 (Heilker & Yergeau)

Summary:
In their article "Autism and Rhetoric," Paul Heilker and Melanie Yergeau explaining how autism could be considered a discourse community. To do this, they use various elements of research and their own personal narratives to define autism as a rhetoric.

Synthesis:
This article is similar to articles we have been reading about discourse communities, since it discusses those with autism and how they could potentially be their own community.

Personal Response:
I enjoyed this article, but more because of the aspect of autism rather than discourse communities. I did, however, find it very interesting that the writers could take something so broad and connect it to the concept of a discourse community.

Project 3 Intro & Conversation

If you are not actively interested in English, there is a very good chance that you have never heard of a discourse community. However, whether you know what it is or not, there is also a very good chance that you are a part of one. While a discourse community can be defined in many different ways, most can agree that it is a group of people who have common goals and ideas, who work together to further said goals and ideas. A discourse community does not necessarily have to be in a central location; you can be a part of a discourse community and have another member of it thousands of miles away. Although a discourse community could probably be described as simply a social group, it is so much more than that. People that are in the same discourse community share so many goals; they have many of the same skills. In cases where their skills are different, they always complement each other and some individuals make up for what others may lack. Discourse communities will have members that may see eye to eye, but it will also have members that may disagree on several topics. Take, for example, the discourse community that I will be discussing: a choir made up of twenty girls. Any time you put twenty girls in a room together, you are going to have some disagreements, but, as a discourse community, we still shared the same goals and broad ideas as each other.

                Many authors have discussed and expanded upon the idea of discourse communities, including (but not limited to) John Swales, James Paul Gee, Elizabeth Wardle, Amy Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff. While many of these writers’ ideas differ a bit, they still interconnect in many ways, and give a little more insight into how discourse communities actually work. Swales probably gives the most descriptive analysis, finding six criteria that make up a discourse community. These criteria deal mainly with how the group communicates. James Paul Gee believes that you do not bring yourself into a discourse community, but are automatically a part of it. Gee maintains that there is no way to be “halfway” in a discourse community, you are either part of it or you’re not, and this is mainly an involuntary thing. Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff look at discourse communities and how they relate to ethnomethodology, using comparisons to juries, patient medical history forms, and teachers and students. Wardle basically ties all three definitions together, using research that she did with a subject named “Alan” and how he dealt with joining a new discourse community. Wardle explains discourse communities using identity and how it relates to ones writing, which makes up the discourse community.

                All of these authors have their own definitions for what a discourse community is, and in this paper I hope to look at those definitions and hopefully expand upon some of them. I wish to add a little of my own conversation to what these writers have already contributed.