Author: Catherine

If the freshman chooses their First Year Writing class next year, I recommend taking the Secret Language of Comics. From my experience, this course not only introduced comics, a novel literary medium for me, through several class readings, but the various writing and sketching assignments also helped me grow in my writing. Through these assignments, I learned more about my advantages and disadvantages in writing. I also accumulated more skills and improved through the progression of one assignment to another.

The first major writing assignment in the class was the Literacy Narrative Part 1, a personal narrative in which we analyzed the experiences shaping our reading and writing process. For this assignment, I tried to incorporate every detailed experience, every book I read, and every writing I created. However, after rereading the essay several times and receiving the professor’s feedback, I realized that the paper is too compact with loosely connected information, making it lose focus. I was glad that the project has multiple parts, which inspired my wish to revise and improve on the idea based on the problems spotted. On the other hand, After the professor’s reminder in class, I paid particular attention to incorporating citations when I included quotes from other authors’ works. 

The Tracing Stitches and Spinning assignment introduced me to several new skills while exposing a similar problem in my writing. Since the genre for this assignment differs from the first personal narrative, the audience, or the professor who makes the assignment, might expect to see an essay that displays more about one’s ability to analyze others’ works and less about one’s personal experiences. Thus, in comparison to having more freedom in structure for the personal essay, I used a more standard ABT (and, but, therefore) organization for this essay to more clearly analyze the similarities and differences between the two comics and expand on how their characteristics contribute to the works as a whole. In this genre of more academic writing, I also have to eliminate figurative language and attach to a more formal and interpretive style. In addition, this assignment also trained my visual thinking ability when I interpreted others’ graphic works to assemble my own essay. For example, I wrote in my essay how an increase in the number of panels on the page could “induce the readers’ curiosity. Also, the compact configuration might at the first glance give the audience a sense of quickened pace and intensified emotions. “, showing how I learned to infer the mental effects that specific structures of comics can elicit in the readers, which helped me understand the authors’ purpose when using certain structures. However, sometimes I found myself lacking in providing visual interpretations, which reveals a similar issue in my literacy narrative: crowding my essay with too many pieces of information but not providing a deep enough analysis for each of them. I compared multiple elements from the two comics, such as the panel sizes, the perspectives, and whether the authors drew out their imaginations. However, I sometimes merely contrasted how the authors utilized the elements visually on the surface without analyzing why the author had chosen to incorporate them, their effects on the readers, and how they contributed to the entire narrative. Similar to the Literacy Narrative Part 1, these flaws disclose the need to find a focus, condensing my essay into just a few points and providing profound interpretations for them. 

The second part of my Literacy Narrative project gave me the opportunity to revise the loose and obscure structure of my essays. Learning from my mistakes in the previous draft and from the professor’s advice, I extracted certain parts of my experience and focused mainly on how moving from China to the US affected my process of reading and writing. Concentrating on one component of my experience allows me to organize how specific details have influenced me and to better conclude a theme or message that expands on that particular experience than when dealing with multiple loosely connected sections. Through this process, I also further realized how writing is indeed a long process involving numerous revisions to learn from and resolve past mistakes. I also obtained certain unexpected discoveries. Knowing how comics are a genre that differs mainly from alphabetical narratives and that the audience might expect them to be more attractive to read, I borrowed specific techniques from my class readings and past analytical assignments. For example, I varied my sample sizes to emphasize certain significant moments, a method that I learned from the book Spinning. Also, like how David Small designed Stitches, I drew out what happened at the moment and how I interpreted these moments in my own imagination. Aside from obtaining new techniques, I also discovered that, personally, this assignment was the most significant part of this course. Because English is my second language, visual mediums provide more accessible and more vivid ways to portray my ideas than alphabetical mediums. Thus, I found creating a comic more intriguing than writing an essay. Through this project, I tightened my narrative and discovered a new, more compelling medium to express my ideas. 

Having fixated my narrative around a central experience in Literacy Narrative Part Two, I was able to incorporate a main theme and message after returning to the alphabetical form in Part Three of the narrative. When drawing the narrative in Part Two, I discovered how my evolution in reading and writing revolved around the central theme of communication. I noted this finding when revising my essay in part one and developed the theme that “the language barrier after moving to the US taught me how much value effective communication means to me, which inspired my growth in reading and writing.” I reorganized my experiences mainly around how my wish for communication has inspired me, through which I clarified the structure of the essay and interconnected the initially separated parts about reading and writing. The Literacy Narrative project taught me how writing improves by revising problems and concentrating on the highlights. Still, it also enhanced my knowledge about personal narratives, that they can convey specific lessons and messages through descriptions of personal experiences. 

This class not only allowed me to accumulate new skills but also exposed many problems I  intend to focus on improving in the future. I organized my Halfa Kucha presentation the same way I would format a regular essay, and I did not pay particular attention to how I would arrange the pictures on the slides. However, after viewing my peers’ works, I recognized how insufficient my project was. Some of my peers started with a relatively shallow claim and then profoundly investigated the characters’ mentality as their presentations progressed. At the same time, others organized their slides in constructed ways, such as circling the emphasis or incorporating symbols. Many also included speech-like tones and gestures even under the pressing time limit. Their outstanding works showed me how presentations, as a different genre than essays, adopt a specific structure and tone. I also realized it takes a lot of time to practice presenting my ideas efficiently. 

In addition, I also found myself needing more knowledge about how to use others’ works correctly. I learned from many sketch assignments that I can not simply search for images on Google and use them for my use. Instead, there are certain websites filled with public domain images. When searching for images for my ECS presentation, I used these websites rather than searching on Google. 

Overall, I am glad this course guided me through my first year. Not only did I accumulate multiple skills, but most importantly, the class taught me through various assignments that writing is a process of exploration and growth. Through practice and drafting, I spot my issues and improve them; by exploring novel mediums, I identify my advantages and shortcomings. It is a course that elevates my interest and knowledge in writing. 

If the freshman chooses their First Year Writing class next year, I recommend taking the Secret Language of Comics. From my experience, this course not only introduced comics, a novel literary medium for me, through several class readings, but the various writing and sketching assignments also helped me grow in my writing. Through these assignments, I learned more about my advantages and disadvantages in writing. I also accumulated more skills and improved through the progression of one assignment to another.

The first major writing assignment in the class was the Literacy Narrative Part 1, a personal narrative in which we analyzed the experiences shaping our reading and writing process. For this assignment, I tried to incorporate every detailed experience, every book I read, and every writing I created. However, after rereading the essay several times and receiving the professor’s feedback, I realized that the paper is too compact with loosely connected information, making it lose focus. I was glad that the project has multiple parts, which inspired my wish to revise and improve on the idea based on the problems spotted. On the other hand, After the professor’s reminder in class, I paid particular attention to incorporating citations when I included quotes from other authors’ works. 

The Tracing Stitches and Spinning assignment introduced me to several new skills while exposing a similar problem in my writing. Since the genre for this assignment differs from the first personal narrative, the audience, or the professor who makes the assignment, might expect to see an essay that displays more about one’s ability to analyze others’ works and less about one’s personal experiences. Thus, in comparison to having more freedom in structure for the personal essay, I used a more standard ABT (and, but, therefore) organization for this essay to more clearly analyze the similarities and differences between the two comics and expand on how their characteristics contribute to the works as a whole. In this genre of more academic writing, I also have to eliminate figurative language and attach to a more formal and interpretive style. In addition, this assignment also trained my visual thinking ability when I interpreted others’ graphic works to assemble my own essay. For example, I wrote in my essay how an increase in the number of panels on the page could “induce the readers’ curiosity. Also, the compact configuration might at the first glance give the audience a sense of quickened pace and intensified emotions. “, showing how I learned to infer the mental effects that specific structures of comics can elicit in the readers, which helped me understand the authors’ purpose when using certain structures. However, sometimes I found myself lacking in providing visual interpretations, which reveals a similar issue in my literacy narrative: crowding my essay with too many pieces of information but not providing a deep enough analysis for each of them. I compared multiple elements from the two comics, such as the panel sizes, the perspectives, and whether the authors drew out their imaginations. However, I sometimes merely contrasted how the authors utilized the elements visually on the surface without analyzing why the author had chosen to incorporate them, their effects on the readers, and how they contributed to the entire narrative. Similar to the Literacy Narrative Part 1, these flaws disclose the need to find a focus, condensing my essay into just a few points and providing profound interpretations for them. 

The second part of my Literacy Narrative project gave me the opportunity to revise the loose and obscure structure of my essays. Learning from my mistakes in the previous draft and from the professor’s advice, I extracted certain parts of my experience and focused mainly on how moving from China to the US affected my process of reading and writing. Concentrating on one component of my experience allows me to organize how specific details have influenced me and to better conclude a theme or message that expands on that particular experience than when dealing with multiple loosely connected sections. Through this process, I also further realized how writing is indeed a long process involving numerous revisions to learn from and resolve past mistakes. I also obtained certain unexpected discoveries. Knowing how comics are a genre that differs mainly from alphabetical narratives and that the audience might expect them to be more attractive to read, I borrowed specific techniques from my class readings and past analytical assignments. For example, I varied my sample sizes to emphasize certain significant moments, a method that I learned from the book Spinning. Also, like how David Small designed Stitches, I drew out what happened at the moment and how I interpreted these moments in my own imagination. Aside from obtaining new techniques, I also discovered that, personally, this assignment was the most significant part of this course. Because English is my second language, visual mediums provide more accessible and more vivid ways to portray my ideas than alphabetical mediums. Thus, I found creating a comic more intriguing than writing an essay. Through this project, I tightened my narrative and discovered a new, more compelling medium to express my ideas. 

Having fixated my narrative around a central experience in Literacy Narrative Part Two, I was able to incorporate a main theme and message after returning to the alphabetical form in Part Three of the narrative. When drawing the narrative in Part Two, I discovered how my evolution in reading and writing revolved around the central theme of communication. I noted this finding when revising my essay in part one and developed the theme that “the language barrier after moving to the US taught me how much value effective communication means to me, which inspired my growth in reading and writing.” I reorganized my experiences mainly around how my wish for communication has inspired me, through which I clarified the structure of the essay and interconnected the initially separated parts about reading and writing. The Literacy Narrative project taught me how writing improves by revising problems and concentrating on the highlights. Still, it also enhanced my knowledge about personal narratives, that they can convey specific lessons and messages through descriptions of personal experiences. 

This class not only allowed me to accumulate new skills but also exposed many problems I  intend to focus on improving in the future. I organized my Halfa Kucha presentation the same way I would format a regular essay, and I did not pay particular attention to how I would arrange the pictures on the slides. However, after viewing my peers’ works, I recognized how insufficient my project was. Some of my peers started with a relatively shallow claim and then profoundly investigated the characters’ mentality as their presentations progressed. At the same time, others organized their slides in constructed ways, such as circling the emphasis or incorporating symbols. Many also included speech-like tones and gestures even under the pressing time limit. Their outstanding works showed me how presentations, as a different genre than essays, adopt a specific structure and tone. I also realized it takes a lot of time to practice presenting my ideas efficiently. 

In addition, I also found myself needing more knowledge about how to use others’ works correctly. I learned from many sketch assignments that I can not simply search for images on Google and use them for my use. Instead, there are certain websites filled with public domain images. When searching for images for my ECS presentation, I used these websites rather than searching on Google. 

Overall, I am glad this course guided me through my first year. Not only did I accumulate multiple skills, but most importantly, the class taught me through various assignments that writing is a process of exploration and growth. Through practice and drafting, I spot my issues and improve them; by exploring novel mediums, I identify my advantages and shortcomings. It is a course that elevates my interest and knowledge in writing. 

Toy Story isn’t my favorite children’s movie, but it was for my cousin. Thus I had to rewatch it every time I visited their house, and it gradually became an important part of my childhood memory. I especially like the worldview that the toys have to pretend to be unanimated in front of people, and thus I chose to imitate this scene. I don’t have any toys from the movie itself, so I used my own toy in place of it. 

The Cognitive Priming Procedures present stimuli to the participants and measure their immediate, automatic reactions, compared to IAT which involves a contrast in participants’ reactions to different stimuli. They also lack the ability to eliminate participants’ attempts to mask their real reactions. 

One of my important take-aways from the class is my potential interests and advantage in using visual mediums to create stories in place of using alphabetical ones. I realized through the process of creating the second draft of my literacy narrative that I might be a more visual thinker, and visual mediums provide a more easy, diverse, and concrete way to portray my imaginations. 

Another skill that the course helped me develop was my imagination. The Sunday sketch assignments expanded my concept of how to represent certain ideas metaphorically and abstractly. 

The course also trained my revision skills through the literacy narrative assignment. I felt that with each revision I became closer to having a central theme or focus in my essay. I learned how having various drafts can help filtering out the unnecessary points and clarify the main point that I try to convey. It also helps me to spot issues in my writing more clearly. I represented this part as the cup as I think that this skill applies both to visual and alphabetical mediums. 

At last, I felt like the course, especially the literacy narrative project, helped me see more clearly my motive and passion behind reading and writing. I drew this concept as the chopsticks because my interest to some extent controls how I use the skills in the class. 

My playlist is called “50×50”, representing two ways that I deal with my gloomy periods. A lot of my worries come from the social pressure of feeling not having enough friends and feeling unneeded by others. I have this eccentric obsession of wanting to be valued emotionally by others. Thus when I feel unneeded, I would sink into this swamp of anxiety and convince myself that I am the loneliest person in the entire world. This playlist provides songs that correspond to my two mental states in this situation: either renouncing and letting the distress paralyze momentarily me, during which I would listen to songs that express similar anxieties of defeat and loneliness; or picking myself up and convincing myself to not let others to rob me of my ability to be happy on my own, during which I would listen to the “I’m the best” type of songs. 

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/50×50/pl.u-55D6ZyyI6alqP9D

To make the presentation clearer, I decided to divide the presentation into two parts and talk about the two comics separately. I compared the two comics mainly during the transition in the middle. However, looking back now, I think the comparisons might have been clearer if I had mixed the two parts. For example, for each category the two comics differ, I should have followed slides about one comic by slides about another, creating an immediate contrast, instead of separating the two. 

I think one part that I could have improved on is that I did not structure my presentation that much differently than how I would structure an essay. To enhance the presentation, I could have included a conclusion to summarize and expand my argument. I also could have restated my argument in the beginning, middle, and the end of the essay.

For the visual representation, I did my best to arrange the pictures on my slides in the order of how I mentioned them. I think some of the techniques that my classmates used, such as circling the important parts of the pictures or using signs(such as equal and unequal signs) to indicate the relationship between the two comics. Since there is a time limit for each slide, I have to condense the words spoken for each of them, making it difficult to find the points to emphasize. Also, it takes more time to practice in order to ensure that my pace of speaking matches the pace of the slides. I think that I would need to practice this kind of presentation more in order to improve. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSeKuFY9aSByo8em15il4s-NQ2fKoOhE0_TnHaVYtMaL7Tkp3t7uEHFhS7IP6ndavK9UuwBCSjv4V8X/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

I think the Literacy Narrative project helps me improve my revision skills as each draft helps me to focus closer on a particular theme and eliminate the parts that seem to digress from the topic. Part two of this project also introduces me to the visual medium which might be a better alternative to the alphabetic for me. 

Drawing the visual comic helped me recognize a frequently-mentioned theme–how both books and writing help people communicate their ideas. Thus, I decided to focus my essay mainly on how my wish to voice myself drove me to improve my reading and writing. However, I still found it easier and perhaps more interesting to create the visual medium. Maybe it’s because of the fact that my language barrier still persists, the visual medium provides a more diverse and vivid way to represent  my idea. 

In the first draft I tried my best to summarize all of the elements that contributed to how my process of reading and writing evolved. Since I thought that my original essay had too loose of a structure, I tried to seek a theme when creating the comic and tried applying it to my third draft. 

In Stitches and Spinning, Both authors used various techniques to help readers consciously and unconsciously sympathize with their traumatic memories. When tracing the pages, I felt like I was situated into the author’s point of view and began to analyze the purposes of how the authors organized the pages. For example, tracing the compact panels on the Spinning page was a bit tiring, which led me to wonder about the mood or message the author tries to convey with the various panels. 

Having to place the thesis at the end with the ABT format, I was a little confused about what to put in the first paragraph, where I usually write the thesis. Also, it was challenging for me to synthesize a larger meaning for the similarities and differences of the two texts.

The close reading process helps distinguish many techniques that the authors utilize, such as the number and organization of panels, angles, the uses and locations of texts, and also understanding the mood and atmosphere these techniques create. In analyzing the text closely, I also thought about the metaphoric purposes of these scenes about how they expose the authors’ inner struggles and hardships, for example, of how David Small was pressured by his family and his own diseases. And of how Tillie Walden feared the exposure of her being seen by others. 

When creating the literacy narrative, I found it easier than alphabetic narrative to convey ideas either through concrete or metaphoric images. For me, illustrations seem to provide more diverse options to portray certain messages than words do. Similar to writing the essay in words, I also have to choose which moments are the most important to emphasize. I frame these significant moments in larger panels, much like how I use more words to analyze more influential parts of my experience.  However, concerns about variations in syntax, diction and the overall flow of the essay turned into efforts of designing diverse panel shapes and sizes and making the metaphoric images clear in their meanings. I found it interesting that I could manipulate the perspective and angle through which I draw each scene, much like manipulating camera movements when making a movie. 

When trying to arrange my essay into a comic, I realized again that too many elements are squeezed into the narrative. With the limit of page number and size, the process of organizing helped me filter out certain pieces and concentrate on the more significant ones. I found out that it would be easier to construct a comic if I have focused on one most powerful event in my experience. Doing so would allow me to expand on more details and make the story more engaging. Perhaps condensing my alphabetical narrative into one event would also strengthen the essay. 

In my comic, I tried to vary the panel size and the perspective from which the panels are drawn. For example, I chose to minimize the panel size for the part in which I was scolded by my writing tutor because I wanted to show my distressed reaction, but meanwhile it isn’t quite a significant part of the narrative. For the last two panels on the bottom of the second page, I chose to alter the perspective so that the last panel shows a closeup of my eyes seeing the shooting stars in order to highlight the emotional impact that the metaphor had on me. 

There are also several aspects that could be improved. For example, my narrative might still seem a bit scattered rather than revolving around a single event. In addition, I am uncertain if I effectively synthesized the two parts of my narrative at the end. I feel like I provided a hasty summary rather than analyzing and expanding on the lessons learned from my experience. Some parts of the comic might also seem unclear due to my insufficient drawing skills. For example, the bottom of page three is supposed to portray the character looking at the earth through a telescope made of a curled book, although the book looks a bit more like a sandwich. If I could hire an expert illustrator, I would have him clarify those details and perhaps add some colors into the comic.