Author: Benny

Benny Schuchat

Reflection Letter

Professor Morgen

12/11/23

Throughout the semester I composed texts using multiple modes to engage in writing exercises and assignments that required me to explore different genres within the context of comics. This included creating narratives, and critiques, making my comic, and even experimental forms of comic storytelling through the use of our weekly sketches. To analyze the ideas of others I often had to put myself briefly in their shoes, especially for comics like “Spinning” and “Kindred.” While stirring in the author’s shoes, in an attempt to see their viewpoint as clearly as possible, I found that comics are an exceptional medium that relates on a personal level. The incorporation of illustration is criticized for ruining the reader’s imagination, but for me, it helped me peak into the mind of the author. This dip into another mind was not different from traveling to other worlds. What I was able to bring back from those journeys helped me produce my arguments in a more sophisticated, academic, and standout way. 

Breaking down pages and even single frames in the Tracing Pages assignment helped me understand how the author works and influenced some of my future work. For example, I had hoped that the influence of my traced page from “Stitches” was obvious when looking at my Literacy Narrative Part Two: 

The drawing by David Smalls depicts himself as being overwhelmed, hence the gigantic tidal wave. However, I took his work and put a positive spin on it. The panel before reads: “I felt like I could fly” about my first acceptance letter for college. Stitches had a profound effect on me, in particular, the cruelty and misfortune David faced as a young boy and his relationship with his parents are unthinkable for me. Also, as a singer, I sympathize with his loss of voice. I am upset when I get sick and lose my voice for a week and can not even comprehend the horror of cancer and the scar that was left behind. 

The literacy narrative assignment also forced me to improve my revising skills. I honed my skills in formulating my arguments based on the insights gained from the constant revision process. Additionally, the process of writing a reflection assignment, creating a comic, and then turning the same thought process back into writing, allowed me to completely dissect my thoughts. While the first part was hard because it forced me to write in the first person, as I said in my comic, “I found it hard to write personal statements,” the second part of the literacy narrative was exponentially harder. My respect for the authors we read in class ballooned – their ability to be an author and an illustrator at that high of a level, just wow. Creating the comic took the most time and effort of anything I did for The Secret Language of Comics and, in the end, I am proud of it. The class fostered a recursive approach to my writing and refined my work and writing process.

I also learned to relax in my work and not worry about perfection. Most of my work in college will not be published and while I am not saying to throw in the towel, it would be unfair to compare my first comic ever created to that of the work we study and read in class. Keeping this in mind, I was able to think about my audience for my comic, my peers, and my professor, and adjust the piece accordingly. Therefore, I spent more time on the layout and concept of the comic and less time on the illustration, opting to go black and white instead of wasting time on coloring because I knew I was a horrible artist. Also, the comic was a short piece closer to the triptych and other sketches I had to do for class. So, it would not make sense to have a well-illustrated comic that did not evoke any emotions from the reader when instead I could create a low-production comic that would hopefully make the reader feel some connection. 

Although group projects were not common in this class, peer evaluation did occur and I benefited from the extra set of eyes on my work. Showing someone your writing or in this case, comic, can bring you down to earth if they expose any flaws or potential shortcomings. When I was still in the drafting phase of the comic version of my literacy narrative, I realized, after reading my peer’s comments, that I had accidentally compared myself to Shakespeare. While we both did create works of art, I am in no way, shape, or form on his level, nor did I ever think I was. If not for a collaborative learning environment fostered by classroom discussion and peer evaluation, my work would have come off as brash and laughable.

Public speaking is difficult and presenting your original thoughts for the first time can be unnerving. So, practicing the skill of making a PowerPoint presentation and presenting in front of my peers is something that I will take from this class with me into my future learning. In particular, classes like Business Communications that I will have to take if I continue on my journey to graduate with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration give class grades based entirely on presentations. Even the final exam is a presentation! While this might seem daunting to some and easy to others, presenting in The Secret Language of Comics showed me that public speaking is no joke and is a skill that should be trained and fostered throughout my college years.

In summary, my experience in The Secret Language of Comics has given me a well-rounded set of skills, encompassing both the academic and practical aspects related to comics. Not only have I developed a deep understanding of the subject matter but I have also honed my critical thinking, writing, revising, and presenting skills. As I step back and reflect on my writing this semester, I notice improvement not only in the revision process but also a shift toward using examples to promote themes as the backbone of my essay. Incorporating larger patterns is tricky, but I try my best to subtly wind every piece around some recurring message.

This site is an archive of the work that I completed as part of ENG101 at Emory University during Fall semester 2023

Syllabus

How was it different to construct an argument that you were giving to the class as a presentation than to write an essay? 

Constructing an argument by writing it out in essay form is drastically different from giving it orally in a presentation form. For starters, the presentation is timed, while the essay format is given a word limit that if read out, would far outlast the presentation time limit. Also, the oral PowerPoint option uses photos as a medium of expression, not just words. Some presentations do not even have any words at all. 

How did you make choices about the structure of your argument? If you chose to organize your presentation in a certain way so that your audience would follow it more clearly, is that something that you could also make use of in your written work? 

Yes, I broke up my presentation into two parts, one for each comic I was analyzing. This style of organization is something I strive to do in all of my written essays. 

Was your analytical thinking process any different?

Analytically, my thinking process was immensely different when constructing a PowerPoint presentation because I had to focus on making a different point every 10 seconds. 

What decisions did you make about the visuals for your presentation? How did you go about creating an impact for the slides that accompany your spoken words?

I decided to use bits of the comics I was analyzing to accompany my points. In theory, they should have complimented my argument perfectly that silence in both “Sabrina” and “It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth” accompanies the healing process and can either be detrimental to the character or give them space to express and get rid of the rage inside them. 

What did you learn by giving this type of presentation, where you had no control over the timing of the slides and couldn’t put much in the way of text on your slides, as compared to other presentations you have given? 

The Halfa Kucha format kept me disciplined, concise, and on task while presenting. There was no time for tangents or distractions. For someone who likes to get sidetracked and tell somewhat unrelated stories while they present, this was a challenge for me but proved useful in the long run. 

What did you notice about your classmates’ presentations that you might think about incorporating into your own presentations in the future?

Some of my classmates used generic photos rather than bits of the comics they were analyzing. I do not think I would go down that road if I had to do this assignment over again. However, that perspective is useful for other PowerPoint presentations in the future. 

What do you think you could have done better in your presentation?

One of my slides accidentally slipped ahead while presenting and messed up my speaker notes. I think if I used a different way of keeping my notes in front of me like a Google doc or a Word doc, then I would not have gotten messed up and could have moved through the presentation better. 

The literacy narrative pt. 3 helped me meet the learning outcomes of the class by challenging me to revise and edit a text and a comic for a third time. The visual medium of the comic helped me separate my thoughts succinctly into cohesive paragraphs. Not only did I spend extra time on the assignment, but the prior two drafts really helped my final product. For one of the first times, I felt clear minded about my vision for the assignment and looking back reading the essay I think it came out and answered the prompt in a robust, successful way. My analytical thinking process was the same each time I completed the literacy narrative, whether it was parts 1, 2, or 3. However, I believe that it was the repetition of the assignment that was actually a good thing and enabled me to dive deeper into my thoughts and not just write and submit the first good one that comes to mind.

https://wordpress.com/page/observant-bschuchat.wordpress.com/144

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/lost-dog/pl.u-AkAmvxyTle5e0XA

Since I was 11 I have been playing in concerts and music competitions. When I was in high school I was part of a vocal jazz group that won the largest High School Jazz festivals in the country for 9 straight years. Last summer I started playing, as a solo act, paid gigs for restaurants, private parties, and weddings, and got offered to play on a cruise line. While all of this may sound impressive I found that my love for music dwindled when the start of performing was mixed with the pressure to succeed and live up to either the money that was promised or the judges who would give review and criticize. This year I have been burnt out musically and am taking the semester off from voice lessons. With new-found time, I started my own band here at Emory. While we don’t have a name yet we have enjoyed practicing together and have some gigs in the pipeline for Spring 2024.

The reason the playlist is so long is because I took the time to put together a playlist that covers most of my musical tastes combined with songs that are feasible to perform in a live setting. I have already played live for money 75% of the songs on the mix tape and am working on the other 25%. I enjoyed making this playlist as it let me reflect on my time performing and reminded me why I love to play live. I remember each song I have played, so going through the mix tape filled me with nostalgia.

One music taste that was severely left off of the playlist and should be noted was Jazz. As I said earlier my background with Vocal Jazz as a genre is extensive and I even wrote a personal statement in High School about Titled “The Jazz Thinker,” a play on the “The Jazz Singer.”

This is my mix tape cover. It is a graphic I used for a live performance last year. The BayWalkers is the name of my family band. My older brother pictured above plays bass and my twin brother plays drums. We do not have a current guitar player but use a different one for different gigs.

I chose to recreate the a shot from the movie Oppenheimer because it was one of the biggest and influential films this year and was made by my favorite director Christopher Nolan. Oppenheimer talks to Einstein only once, but this scene is replayed over and over again in the movie and the content of their conversation is the finale of the movie. The importance of this shot is further exemplified by the meme trend that followed the movie’s release in July 2023. While I didn’t have the glorious trench coat that Oppy wears, I adorned a shockingly similar hat and chose a spot to recreate the photo with leaves on the ground. I am disappointed with how the lighting came out because I waited until I thought the time of day matched but the photo came out much darker. This must be due to some sort of professional camera difference/trick. Nolan is known for using only the highest quality IMAX cameras in the world, the outcome of such unfortunately cannot be satisfied by my dinky little Iphone camera.

I wanted to see the effect my stress and anxiety levels had on the amount of food I ate daily. I know I am prone to stress-eating but I wanted to see just how much my food intake is tied to my mood. Since I am a business major, I immediately thought it best to use Microsoft Excel to create some charts and calculate the regression (determines correlation). I asked myself how I felt at the beginning of each day for two weeks to track stress and anxiety on a 1-10 scale. I estimated my calories for the day at the end of the day, something I got good at when dieting for various sports in High School. Comparing stress and anxiety showed an immediate correlation that can be seen on this very nice chart.

I used a t-test because I had under 30 data points. T-tests are known in statistics for being slightly less reliable than their cousin the z-test which can be used with more data like the nationwide census. 

It was clear to me after looking at the data that my food intake was directly related to my stress and anxiety levels. This line-fit plot tracks regression and passes the t-test proving correlation. 

Knowing this means I need to stay conscious about how much I am eating and the motives behind that. By the end of the week, I started asking myself how I felt when I sat down in the DCT. I found that being more conscious about my consumption made me more mindful and I enjoyed my food more even on days when I was stressed. When tracking stress and anxiety I found that it grew throughout the week when I had a test on a Wednesday or Thursday, but then fell dramatically on the weekends when I have more time to get work done and relax. This exercise in asking myself how I’m feeling at the beginning of the day was clearly an excellent tool that I will definitely keep in the future. I would not change anything if I had to redo this project or continue it int he future. 

Below are my calculations used to make the charts as well as my raw data. 

Creating a comic of my literary narrative essay has helped me meet the learning outcomes of practicing writing as a process by implementing the strategies of research, drafting, revision, editing, and reflection. Not only did I have to make multiple drafts and revisions, but the brain power it took to turn pure prose into words and pictures was a challenge of its own. In essay form, I focused my idea on being chronological so it could be easier to adapt to a comic later. I talk about my struggle with incorporating metaphors and analogies. Ironically, when it was time to make the comic version of my idea, creative writing was required to shorten my sentences and fit all my ideas into a handful of panels.

One challenge I faced was making each page have different panels. Variety is key in showcasing my ideas, thoughts, and if I am to be so bold, talents. Once the visual component was added I was forced to think of how my words would fit on a page in space. Also, my first designs and drawings were not always the best, and many revisions were needed to put the idea I had fostered in my head, to paper. 

Writing comics and essays involves distinct thinking processes. When I was crafting my comic, I had to mix words to tell a story. To use a metaphor, it is like a team sport, and I have got to be super clear and to the point in my drafts. There is not much space on the page compared to an essay which one can keep writing on, and on, and on, so brevity is key. When writing the essay beforehand, I tried to dive deep into arguments and evidence, focusing on structure and detail. While they both need analytical thinking, comics are like the fun, creative cousins of serious, scholarly essays.

No comic is complete without an ending, and since I struggled with the writing beforehand, I was very concerned with how my comic would end up. After lots of thought, I decided to go with a slightly open-ended finish. I reflected on the texts we had read in class and why I liked some more than others (I am a fan of “It’s Lonely at the Center of the Earth” and not so much the ending of “Spinning”). Since my essay did not have an ending worth illustrating and lacked the “ABT” form, it was a challenge to create something I felt comfortable with to end my comic. I decided to use inspiration from the page I traced in “Stitches”. I took the panel when David was in the air above the wave and transformed it with a positive lens. For my last panel, I drew myself in the same spiraling way that David was and wrote: “When I got that first email… I thought I could fly”. I was reflecting on the emotion of getting my first college acceptance letter in a way that was not literal and was based upon material we had read in class.

https://wordpress.com/page/observant-bschuchat.wordpress.com/101

The process of creating this assignment was very much like that of the Triptych. Although the middle section spanned two panels, it allowed more room for the creative process. I did not have to jam in my thoughts into one panel. I was thinking about getting a job in the future and how I would have fun behind a cubicle. The answer in my brain was that I would not have fun behind a cubicle. So, this strange, lame prank by “Bob,” that does not end up pranking “Sarah,” shows that I do not think I would enjoy myself in a cubicle. It does not show that I would like to place fake snakes around the office. Not my style.

Tennis Ball, Apple Laptop with Stickers, FIN 201 Notebook, B-school Name-tag, Macbook Charger, Water bottle Whoopee–cushion, SPC new member Name-tag, Fanny-pack, Monkey on Carabiner.

This self-portrait is very representative of how I have been living so far at Emory. The notebooks represent the rigorous academics. The name-plates represent clubs and other extracurriculars like Student Programming Club. The water bottle and tennis ball show my love for sports and my passion for fitness. The whoopee-cushion shows off my funny side. The monkey on the carabiner is a gift from my mom and always reminds me of home.